Episode Transcript
Common Mystics Podcast
Season 2 Episode 2: The Missing and the Accused in Isadore, MI- Part 1
www.commonmystics.net
00:01:10 On this episode of Common Mystics, we stumble upon a salacious story that has it all: sex, murder, mystery, and fishing. But the story as it's been told leaves the dead looking for justice. I'm Jennifer James. I'm Jill Stanley. We're psychics. We're sisters. We are Common Mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And this week we're bringing you a story out of Isadore, Michigan.
00:01:42 You guys, this story has so much to it. We had to break it down into two parts. So today we are going to run through the events as it's been reported throughout history and widely accepted versions of what had happened. And then next week, we're going to look at our psychic impressions and what we feel like had occurred. How's that sound? That sounds amazing.
00:02:08 Jennifer, can you set us off and tell the peeps where we were, or tell the people where we were that day and how late it was in the day? You were actually working that day. True. My, like, real job. Yeah. Don't tell your boss
00:02:20 Nobody tell Jill's boss. He actively does not listen to this podcast. I, like, send him links. I'm like, listen to it. And he's like, Oh, my speakers don't work. We're safe. We're safe. Anyway, so we are driving around Michigan and we actually met with one of your clients in Cadillac, Michigan. And who is that client, Jill?
00:02:42 That would be Miss Rita. She is the president of Ms. Green Recycling in Cadillac. Big shout out to her. She's wonderful. And a supporter of our show.
00:02:50 So yay, Rita. Hi Rita. So we were in Cadillac, Michigan, and it was pretty much a full day of driving. Right? You were working, we were driving, we were in the car. So we had gotten a late start.
00:03:04 Right after lunch, we got in the car. And again, I know exactly where I am. This is my stomping ground. So Jen is the navigator and she… I have no idea where I am or what direction we're driving in. She never, ever does. It's a gift. It's a gift.
00:03:21 So we started out with our intention after leaving Cadillac. Can you remind our listeners what our intention always is? Absolutely. You know, we ask the spirits to lead us to a verifiable story that we know nothing about. And most importantly, to help us give voice to the voiceless. That's right.
00:03:42 And so Jen's directing me to head north on 131. Which is interesting because the whole time I'm thinking Traverse City, Traverse City... and I've never been to Traverse City. I've heard of it. It just kept coming to me. So the funny thing was, we actually were headed towards there. Yes. No. So she's telling me where to go. She's like, turn here, go here. And then out of nowhere, she's like, I want to go to Traverse City. I'm like, well, good. Because we're almost there. On our way towards Traverse City. I'm noticing, as Jen's giving me directions, names of people in our family. And I'm feeling as if this story is going to seem very familiar to us almost as if we have some kind of inside empathy for whomever, the story’s about, that seems connected to our family in some way. Does that make sense?
00:04:34 Yeah, it does weirdly. Yeah. Like over identifying. Exactly. Clearly. Like we know these people who, I don't know, we've never met them, but we know them. And I've hardly ever been to Traverse City. I think I was only there twice before, so right. What were you picking up on?
00:04:51 The idea of witches and a witch hunt kept coming into my brain and I didn't know why. I was picking up, as we approached Traverse City proper, I was picking up the feeling of isolation and, like, remote, rough living, which is weird because again, Traverse City is a well-populated area. Right, right. Exactly. And actually we did just a little bit of research on Google, on our phone at the time. And Traverse City is like a main inland port on the Grand Traverse Bay. It's not at all an isolated location. It's a seat of government for the county. It's been settled and populated by many different peoples over the years. It's a transportation and economic hub. And of course a local tourist destination. So it's not at all an isolated kind of rough living sort of situation. And hasn't been for over a hundred years.
00:05:43 Ever, really, it seems like. Right. I mean, it was a, it's always been a hub. So,
So at this point we're driving around Traverse City. Jen's looking for witches. I'm looking for outsiders and we're, I'm just about ready to call it. It's just so late in the day, I'm exhausted. And I have a four hour drive to get us back to my house. Right, right, right. Well, Jennifer was not convinced that it was time to go yet. And we were both very confused by the hits we were getting. That's true. So what do we always say?
00:06:10 When in doubt, find the cemetery. Exactly. So I take out my phone and I go to maps and I type in cemeteries nearby. And in this particular circumstance, I was really drawn to a cemetery to the Northwest of Traverse City. And it had a Polish name. I remember you, um, would not have it. You would not. Oh yeah. There was no way because where you pointed out was 45 minutes away, which is going to add an hour and a half to our trip. So I was like, yeah, hell to the no, um, spirits, we need to find a closer cemetery. So what did we decide on looking at your phone?
00:06:57 Right. So there was another cemetery that was closer, a little to the east of Traverse City, still out of the way, but not so, so out of the way. So we ended up going to a place called Oakwood Cemetery, east of Traverse City.
00:07:12 That's right. And it was opened in 1861. It was only the second cemetery established in the area after, um, the white people had settled. So cool that it was so old. It was beautiful. It was old. It was designed to look like a park and a garden style cemetery. So it would be the place where you would come visit your dearly departed with, like, brunch, for, like, a picnic. Fun. Because we all do that. I would totally do that. So I know it was a little disappointing for Jennifer that I was like, we are absolutely not driving to the cemetery that you picked out. But I did feel like when I was standing there that someone who was connected to our story, although not the voiceless, was in that cemetery and that person would be connected in a significant way. Mm. And I suppose we'll come around back to that idea later in the podcast? Absolutely.
00:08:10 What were you picking up on? So it was interesting because I was walking around that cemetery, the Oakwood Cemetery, I was getting not only witches, but I was feeling a complete narrative. Now, what I was picturing is sort of a Salem Witch Trials sort of situation, where there was a woman who is an older woman, kind of on the fringes of society. People thought she was crazy and unusual, and she was being accused of a crime that she did not commit. And it was this entire narrative. I could almost see, like, a primitive courtroom sort of situation in my head. And, um, I, I just couldn't shake it. That's what I was feeling when I was walking around the cemetery.
00:08:58 Like always we ended up leaving the location feeling totally confused. Yeah. Not confident in our psychic abilities at all, but yet we felt as if there was a story that we could research and find. So. Right. We started our research. We sure did.
00:09:16 And again, what were you looking for Jill? Well, it was a little bit of a bust, to be honest with you. I was looking for some kind of outsiders in Traverse City, like vagrants... somebody that wasn't a part of the society of Traverse City. What were you looking for?
00:09:32 I was looking for witches in Traverse City, a history of witchcraft. And again, wah wah, found nothing. So we kind of hit a brick wall.
00:09:43 And you had called me and told me that you were deep diving on the witch scene in Traverse City and was coming up short. It reminded me of a wine that Chad had bought for us. And it was called Witches Brew. And it was from a winery near Traverse City in Leelanau.
00:10:04 Right, right. So you bring that to my attention and I'm thinking, why would you name it Witches Brew? Right. Right. And as far as I know, no reason really, except, except that once you brought that to my attention, it got me looking at the area of Leelanau. And once I started researching the area and mysterious deaths, et cetera, I actually found a pretty salacious and riveting story to come out of the area.
00:10:39 So, so wait, let's just talk about this for a minute, because you were like, this is not our story. And I was like, no, I really think this is our story. So this is where I have to say you were right. I was wrong. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. It's just nice to hear every once in a while. Yeah. So should we talk about it? Absolutely. Right. First, while looking in Leelanau County, you picked up on the small town of Isadore. Can you tell me a little bit about Isadore?
00:11:13 Yeah. It is a tiny, tiny town in Leelanau County, Michigan. It was established around 1870 by Polish immigrants who had come over from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And this whole little community was centered on the church. Originally. It was called Four Corners. And then they changed it to St. Isadore, which was then shortened to Isadore over time. And there was the church and the school that was really the center of this farming community.
00:11:46 So they were like the pilgrims, but like, not like the pilgrims, but you get it. Kind of like pilgrims. They wanted to move so they could have their own little community around their little church. Exactly. And their faith. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.
00:11:59 It really was a very, um, insulated sort of situation because I mean, today, the roads, obviously we have roads and are able to get around. But back then it was really an isolated community, especially in the winter because those northern Michigan winters, as you well know, are really rough and without good roads, there's just no traversing that snow. So really the community was very much isolated, at least from, you know, fall through spring. So in the summer of 1907 is where I want to bring you folks to now. So in the little community of Isadore, Michigan, Jennifer, can you tell us what's happening?
00:12:42 In the summer of 1907, the Polish Catholic community, which revolved around the Holy Rosary Church and school, had a priest who was in charge and his name was Father Andrew Bieniawski. I'll just call him Father Andrew from now on. And there were three nuns that lived in the school convent and they taught there. So out of the three sisters, Sister Mary Janina was, I believe the oldest, but she was definitely the mother superior. So she was like the lead nun and they lived and they worked in the parish.
00:13:21 So these figures of the community really would have been the people in charge, especially Father Andrew, he, with this little isolated community being unincorporated, even today, it really would be the parish priest to be the leader of the community.
00:13:40 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And sisters, just by the way, sisters Mary Janina, Mary Agnes and Mary Josephine, they were Felician sisters who were actually from a convent in Detroit and they stayed and lived in Isadore because they were teachers at the school. Right. But over the summer months, they would usually go back to Detroit and be in their convent. This particular summer, they all stayed back.
00:14:05 Is there an indication as to why? Well, all three sisters had tuberculosis and though nobody knows exactly why they decided to stay in Isadore that summer, iIt is theorized, or hypothesized, that it was because of their health that they didn't want to travel.
00:14:22 Were there any other residents at the church or the convent during this time? There was... the Reverend Father Andrew had a sister Susan, and she lived there with him at the rectory. Also, there was the housekeeper, her name was Stella Lipczynska, and Stella's daughter Mary. They both lived and worked there and took care of the grounds and the rectory. And also there was a chore boy who lived in work there and his name was Theodore Gruba. So that was everybody. So during this time, late in the summer of 1907, it was a really exciting time for the community and especially the church, because at the end of the month of August the school, which is pretty new, it's about a year old, is going to be blessed by the Bishop. So during this time, summer 1907, everyone is really excited and working hard to prepare for the Bishop. Right. On a summer morning in 1907, tell me, set it up. What's going on the day these people's lives are going to change?
00:15:30 So on the morning of August 23rd, 1907, Father Andrew and his sister, Susan, prepare to go fishing. They were going to be gone the whole day. And at the last minute they decided to take the chore boy Gruba with them. So they leave. And once they leave, that left Stella and her daughter Mary, to continue to get ready and prepare for the bishop's visit. Ask me what the nuns were doing.
00:16:02 So the fishing party leaves and that leaves the other residents to prepare for the bishop. So exactly, I'm assuming everyone had their chores and they went about their business.
00:16:14 Well, Jill, I would assume that that was true for the most part. It was Friday and Friday is bake day. So Stella is taking care of baking and...
00:16:25 Is Friday bake day at your house. I don't have a bake day at my house, but my husband is lucky if I cook anything at all, much less bake bread. Is Friday bake day at your house? It's drink day. It’s wine night. Good answer. Anyway, so it's Friday... Stella and her daughter are preparing the facility. They're preparing the rectory and the church. And, uh, Mary is sewing all day. And the nuns, well, Jill around afternoon time, they decided to go down for their afternoon nap.
00:16:59 Oh, that's sweet. So is it like all the time they take that break? A little siesta? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This was a regular little siesta thing. Well, they all did. They were sick. Okay. Okay. That's generous. Um, but yeah, no, this was a regular thing. They went down for their naps. Yeah. So the nuns are taking nap time. And then what happens? Hours later, Sister Josephine and Sister Angelina wake up from their nap and they can't find Sister Janina. They can't find their mother superior.
00:17:31 So did sister Janina... did she go to sleep with them? When was the last time they saw her? The last time anybody saw her was when she closed her bedroom shades. When the fishing party was leaving for the day, the last time anyone reported seeing her.
00:17:52 Okay. So now this is after a nap, well into the day. Exactly. And now they don't know where she is, but they look around for her. Of course they do. Right. And one of the things they knew that it was, it was sister Janina's job to decorate the church with the flowers from the church basement. But the church wasn't decorated and she wasn't in the church basement either. So after they looked through the church, they looked through the school, they looked through the convent... So then they went to find Stella and her daughter Mary, to see if they had seen Janina.
00:18:26 Now I'm going to stop you there because I have to tell you, Stella and the sisters had a bit of a contentious relationship. Yeah. You know, I don't even know if it's fair to just say the sisters, because apparently the whole, whole community really didn't like Stella. She was kind of gruff. He had a reputation. Yeah. She had, you know, a rough mouth I heard. So the last thing these two sisters want to do is to walk into the rectory where this poor little woman has been working her hands off all day, preparing for the Bishop while these two nuns just wake up, like this is just going to make Stella crazy anyway. And crabby. The last thing they want to do is disturb her hard work to ask that, to ask about Sister Janina. Yeah.
00:19:11 You know what, Jill, I agree with you. And I think you're right, because I can just imagine that that alone, having to go to Stella with this, would have been anxiety producing because I think the nuns knew that Stella didn't really care much for them. And so now they have to, like, go to her and, and ask for her help, really, to find Janina because they can't find her. So what happens? So they do, they go into the kitchen and of course it's Friday, bake day. So Stella is working on the bread. And you can imagine that she's trying to bake more because they're having visitors. Right. Sisters Angelina and Josephine approach her and say, Stella, we can't find Yanina. Have you seen her? And then, when it happens, how does Stella respond? Well, according to reports, uh, Stella completely ignored them and... (I told you, I knew she wasn't going to like it. I knew it…) and kept working in the kitchen. But you know, they were, they were persistent because they had looked everywhere and they knew it had been hours since anyone had seen her. So they did persist. So they said, no, no, no...
00:20:20 Can you imagine if you were there? You would be like, you do it. No, you do it. You ask her. No, no, no. I just did. She ignored me. You just saw what happened. It’s your turn. Right? So they say, no, no, Stella, we really need to know, have you, have you or Mary seen, seen sister Janina? And so at that point, Stella looks up from the dough that she's kneading and yells to Mary, who's in a back room. “Mary, have you seen Sister Janina?” and Mary says she hasn't. And so Stella says in a flippant manner, “Well maybe the dogs got her.” Maybe the dogs got her. Okay. Which is fair. Right? Because she's busy, but let's move past that. So it seems like in this situation, Stella is really not concerned or doesn't have any F's to give about the situation. But it's been reported that when Father Andrew and his fishing party returns, Stella runs out concerned because now daddy's home. And she has to tell him that one of his nuns, his most important nun, his mother superior, is missing.
Speaker 1 00:21:28 Is missing. Exactly. And has been since after nap time or before, as far as anyone knows. So that's, that's bad news that… If were Stella, I would run out and do the same thing. Cause I would want him to know from me, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, if something bad happened at home and I had to tell mom, I would be the first one out. Right? Exactly. Like give them your story first. Right. Right. Right. So what does Father Andrew do? So now he finds out he's been fishing all day, having a great day. He comes home and finds the place has gone to hell. A nun is missing. Nobody knows where she is.
00:22:03 So any reasonable person... what would they do? They would call the police. I don't know that someone would call the police that same night. I don't know. Really. I would probably, I would probably give it a day. You know? I don't know. You think he should have called the police that night? Yeah. She was gone all day. She has, like, Holy orders. You know what I mean? Doesn't she need to be in bed at a certain time? Like, this is late into the night. In the evening, as it was suggested, like the sun has gone down and she's not there. What would she be doing? Wandering around the wilderness at night?
00:22:43 Well, regardless he doesn't call the authorities. Instead he gets together, um, a group of neighbors with lanterns to search for her. Um, and they search, they searched the church, they searched the church basement, the crawl space underneath. We're going to use that interchangeably, crawl space/basement. They searched the school, they searched the convent. They searched the rectory. They searched the grounds. So basically they're trampling all over
any potential evidence.
00:23:14 Any evidence anywhere... it's now destroyed. Why would he do that? Like, why wouldn't he just call the police? Honestly, you know what? Like we said, he was in charge and he probably just wanted to keep it in house. Remember this is a close knit, Polish community. It's a close knit community. They don't want to bring in outside law enforcement to look into their business. He's trying to handle it.
00:23:41 You know what, how many times does this institution have to make the same mistake? I tell ya. All right, continue. So how long is it before he comes to his senses? I was waiting for you to ask me that question.
00:23:56 How long? They go an entire week. It's an entire week of looking. The first 48 hours are the most important when you're investigating! Those crime shows were not on TV in 1907. Yep. You don't know what they knew. You don't know. All right. Now the County sheriff Martin Brown steps in. And how is his investigation going? Does he find her? Well, they do not find her. Now. Nine days after the sister was last seen, they found some footprints in the nearby swamp. Some were older, some were fresh. So they found women's footprints. Um, also they were finding some clues, like a bit of brown wool that was found stuck to a barbed wire fence nearby, the type of wool that would have been used for a nun's habit. Right.
00:24:52 A neighbor reported to the sheriff that he was hearing a woman singing from the swamp near his house. And he thought that he saw a flickering lantern through the trees. And that was about three days into the sheriff's investigation. Right. Right. Did anyone else hear strange singing in the woods? So a group of men that were posted near the road, or on the road, also heard strain singing, but they got scared by it. So instead of, like, going to the sheriff and being like, there's something here they're like, Nope, Nope, Nope. And they just ran off what? A bunch of wusses, honestly. All right. While the sheriff was investigating, what was father Andrew up to?
00:25:33 So again, Father Andrew, he's the head of the community. He couldn't leave well enough alone. He just had to be involved in this investigation. So he was doing his own thing. He was reaching out to the convent in Detroit, where the sisters were from. He was reaching out to Sister Janina’s estranged family in Chicago. He also hired a notable sniffing dog to come- A search dog?
00:25:59 Sniffing sniffing. All right. It's a sniffer. It's like a little rabbit. Yeah. Yeah. He hired one and it was a notable one, not just any little sniffer, a notable search dog to come in and search the property for Janina with his own money, with his own money. All of his investigation, Father Andrew is being fueled by his own money.
00:26:21 Wow. That's that's interesting. Yeah. So the dog comes and the dog follows a scent to the middle of the woods where there's footprints looking as if they were sporadic and in a circle. So kind of as if someone were pacing. Okay. Okay. The scent also led the dog to the road from the weird footprints and then it was gone. The dog, he couldn't pick up any more signs.
00:26:47 Interesting. Interesting. So how long... this was August, August 23rd when she vanished, how long were they able to keep this investigation up? So Father Andrew's investigation kept going until the snowfall. I'm not sure how long, um, the sheriff was looking into it and how often, but father Andrew has always been really, really insistent on finding her. But yeah, the snow fell and that's when the search really went cold. Pardon the pun. Right. So winter comes and pretty much you can't do anything in the winter. Like I mentioned, the roads aren't good, everything stops.
00:27:27 So now it will take eleven more years, 11 years for the investigation to pick up again. Can you tell me what happens to these characters during that time? Wow, sure. In the fall of 1918 Father Andrew, now he's got new orders at a small parish in Manistee, Michigan, where his sister, Susan and Stella are still in his employment. Mary, Stella's daughter, is now married and she's living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sisters Angelina and Josephine are both now in Europe and the chore boy Gruba who went fishing with Father Andrew and his sister that day, he moved away to either the upper peninsula, Michigan or to Canada, but his whereabouts have been lost to history.
00:28:22 And how is the church doing? Well, by 1918 Holy Rosary Church had changed hands twice since Father Andrew's departure. And now in charge is a new father namedFather Edward Podlaszewski. We're just going to call him father Edward, because I don't speak Polish. And it was father Edward's hope to erect a new brick church where the Old Holy Rosary structure stood. So now this new, young Father Edward is all full of piss and vinegar and he's got plans. All ambitious. He's got plans to build a new church, make a name for himself in Isadore. Hmm. Well, there was a little snag in the situation, tiny little snag during the spring of 1918. The young, ambitious Father Edward goes to a retreat of his peers and he is just so excited to tell all his father friends about how he is going to build himself a new church in Isadore. Okay. Okay. Were his father friends impressed?
00:29:35 I think there were concerns. Explain. He, he meets up with a father Lumpski... Really? Lumpke. No, there's no “s.” Oh, does it matter? Father Lumpski of Detroit. Father Lumpke. He leans into Edward and he's like, uh, yeah, that's great. But well, what are you going to do with the bones?
00:30:04 And Father Edward was like, um, what bones? Okay. So yeah. Okay. So let me just say, I read the book on this. And Father Edward had heard rumors that there were bones in the crawl space of the church. Okay. So this is not the first time he heard those rumors, but now this information is coming from a fellow priest, who's not even from Isadore. This guy is from across the state. So he had heard rumors from, like, gossipers in the community. Right? Other neighbors. He didn't put any stock in it, but now...
00:30:48 But now Father Lumpke said, and I quote, “I heard from Bishop Kozlowski that Sister Mary Janina had disappeared at Isadore some years ago and was buried under the church. I believe you'll find her body down there beneath a pile of boards.”
00:31:08 Okay. Hold on. So what else did Father Lumpke say? He took it a step further and he said, now you should take it upon yourself to dig up the bones of her and rebury the sister in your parish cemetery saying that it would be best to avoid all the trouble she would cause by finding her. Do it yourself so nobody has to know.
00:31:35 Do you believe that? That is so wrong. That is so... There's some more tea yet to be spilled. Then father Lumpke says he heard that it was Stella the housekeeper, the one, no one liked in Isadore, that was responsible, responsible for Sister Janina’s death and with a shovel, and with a shovel, she bludgeoned her and buried her in the church crawl space/basement. Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh. Okay. Hmm.
00:32:17 I have so many issues with this. I have so many issues with this. Well, first of all, he found this information out from a Bishop. So, like, the higher ups in the Catholic Church are gossiping about this and nobody does anything. Remember, all in house, keeping it in house. That's what they do.
00:32:40 They didn't do anything. And the only reason it's coming up is because this Father Edward wants to tear down the church and build a new one. This is just so sad. I don't even know what the word is for this. This is sick. Is it wrong? The culture of silence and brotherhood and secrets that the church had been surviving on for years. This is just another deep, dark secret that we're just shining a light to. That could have been handled better by the church. This makes me sweat. Okay. So what did Father Edward do with this information? Jill? Nothing.
00:33:18 Nothing. Nothing. Oh, okay. I thought he might be a little concerned. Silly me. I don't know. The end. See you next week! No, kidding. No, no. He really did nothing for months. Because as a side note, he had his own problems going on. There was a lot going on in Father Edward's life. So we'll get to that. But yeah, no, he did nothing until February. Okay. So this is months later.
00:33:48 So in February, when, um, Edward has a little less on his plate, he goes to the church sexton, which Jennifer tells me is not something dirty, but it's really dirty. It's not. He goes to the church Sexton and says, Hey, we need to go search the basement of the church for the clues of the missing nun. And sure enough, to their horror, they indeed find the remains of Sister Janina buried in a pile of wood in a shallow grave. Now Father Edward told the sexton to rebury Janina in the church cemetery at the foot of a very large cross there. Oh, Oh, Oh. So they dig her up out of the basement. They dig up. Her remains had been there 11 years that nobody has found until now too. You would think it would be a little stinky. Right. Anyway, anyway, anyway,
00:34:49 So they, they dig her up and they bury her secretly in the cemetery in an unmarked grave. They use this beautiful statue. We can put pictures of it online. It's the foot of a very large, 18 foot cross. It's gorgeous. But again, all right. So that's the end? Nobody ever heard anything else about it? Well, Father Andrew did tell the sexton not to say anything. He's like hush, hush. You know what I'm saying?
00:35:16 Okay. And did he? No, he was good. He didn't say a word. Oh good. The problem is
Father Edward had confided in his teenage lover that had just had an abortion of his baby. She wasn't liking him so much at the time. So she was kind of, you know, a little angry, a little perturbed after coming to town after the abortion. And she was like, Hey, mom and dad, this is what Father Edward told me about sister Janina. Okay. Do you need me to stop? What's happening? Too much? Why are you rubbing your temples? What's wrong?
00:35:52 Christ. Oh, did you just say that he told his teenage lover? Yes. You remember how he said he had a lot on his plate? Oh yes. That would do it. I mean, that that's, that would, that's a lot. So honestly...
00:36:08 What happened... and this is just really repulsive… Oh my God. Father Edward hired this teenage girl Martha to work in the rectory and had gotten her pregnant. Then Martha didn't know what to do, confided in her parents, but wouldn't tell anybody who the father was. So Father Edward being, like, the head of the community, he was approached by her parents, looking for guidance. And Father Edward was like, Oh my good people. God will let this go. This baby will come back to his arms. You can definitely have an abortion. I'll even take your daughter to do it. So Martha and Father Edward go out of town. She has an abortion. Parents of course were like, Oh, thank you so much, father. Oh, thank you. So grateful. Thank you for your prayers.
00:36:58 Thank you for your guidance. Thank you for your discretion. So after he finds the bones with the sexton and he goes, picks up Martha from her outta town abortion, he like, he tells Martha, well, she's like, like a young kid, catatonic, feeling guilty and hurt, probably physically. And he doesn't know what to say. So he's like, Hey, guess what I did today? Exactly.
00:37:27 Oh, okay. So, what does she do with this info? Like I said, she tells her parents, you said she went back home. She was like, are you kidding me? I just aborted your kid. You're so many levels of gross, you are. So she tells the parents, the parents don't even talk to him again. They go straight to the sheriff.
00:37:47 All right. So now it's April 1919. We have a new sheriff, Sheriff... We have a new sheriff in town, right? I can't speak, I don't know how to say his name. Kinnucan, Sheriff Kinnucan. I don't know. Maybe. Sounds Canadian. So this sheriff, um, goes to Manistee because remember Father Andrew and Stella are both in Manistee, Michigan now. So the sheriff goes to Manistee with warrants to arrest both Father Andrew and Stella on suspicion of murder and further, it is surmised that Father Andrew and sister Janina had been lovers. And that Stella, motivated by her own love for Father Andrew, murdered Sister Janina in a jealous rage. That's quite the story, quite the story. And so with that theory, they go to Manistee to arrest father Andrew and Stella.
00:38:54 And so when they get there, Father Andrew went, he was like, Oh, well you caught me? What happened?
00:39:00 Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Well, he must've been pretty charismatic because he convinced the sheriff that he had nothing to do with it. And so, on the spot, the Sheriff's like, Oh, okay, but I'm going to arrest Stella. Oh. So yeah. So he convinces the sheriff that he didn't have anything to do with it. And poor Stella is arrested and taken to jail in Leelanau County. She's taken to Leelanau County Jail.
00:39:25 And so ultimately she was convicted and sentenced for this crime. She was. The prosecution stated that Stella was a jealous housekeeper. She murdered Sister Janina and later confessed to her crime, to a priest in Milwaukee, that it was presented that, during the day on August 23rd, 1907, while father Andrew and his party were out on their fishing trip, and as Sisters Angelina and Josephine napped, Stella followed Sister Janina into the church's basement or crawlspace. And there Janina was gathering flowers to decorate the church for the Bishop's upcoming visit. Stella confronted Janina in a jealous rage and killed her by savagely beating her in the head with a shovel. Uh, and then the prosecution said that Stella buried Janina right there in the crawl space, in a shallow grave. Then she cleaned herself up and continued on with her chores until father arrived. Oh my God. Yeah. This version of the story... And this story is very well known in the area. And there is a book I've been referring to called Isadore’s Secret by Mardi Link. This whole narrative was being told again and again, not only in the book, but also, a play was actually written and performed on Broadway. And there was a Hollywood movie that told the story as well. And you know, that show Deadly Women? Yep. They have an episode that features this story as well. And it's all the same thing. Jealous housekeeper kills a nun in a jealous rage.
00:41:01 You know, honestly, I really did enjoy the book. It's a good read. Read it. If you can. I'm just calling bullshit on the prosecution's narrative and we're going to get into it next week, about how our spideys led us to tell this story with, I think, a more plausible ending.
00:41:20 Good. I will. I'm excited for that. Until then, Jill... Well, check out our website, commonmystics.net, check out our Facebook page and our Instagram account at Common Mystics. Find us on Amazon music, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Tune-in and Apple Podcasts, where you can leave us a positive review so other people can find us. Thank you. Good night.
