On the night of the 9^th of March, 1985, David and Angela watched some television before tucking their daughters into bed. Afterwards, they retried to their own bedroom. However, David had earlier lit some candles in the living room and had forgotten to blow them out. It was an accident that he would come to regret for the rest of his life.

A couple of hours after the young couple went to bed, they were awoken by their dog scratching at the bedroom door. When David opened the door, he was horrified to see that the living room was up in flames. As Angela rushed to wake up the girls, David ran across the hallway and smashed a back window so that the family could escape. In retrospect, this probably made the inferno worse as it created a draft.

Once the window was smashed, David attempted to reach the girls but by now, the fire was engulfing the entire home. He was unable to force his way to their bedroom and as he called out to Angela, he heard no reply. David reluctantly climbed out of the window on his own, wearing only a pair of jeans.

He ran to his neighbor’s home, leaving behind a trail of blood from the lacerations he had sustained from the smashed window.¹ His neighbor called the fire department while David ran back to the burning home to attempt to re-enter. Unfortunately, it was much too late for Angela, Katrina and Tracy. They perished inside the home. David was rushed to hospital where he was treated for extensive burns and lacerations.

As if losing his wife and children wasn’t traumatic enough, investigators announced that they believed that the fire was started intentionally and David was the main suspect. Following his discharge from the hospital, he was charged with the murders of his family.

During the trial, the prosecution alleged that the evidence of arson was “clear.” They suggested that the fire had been started with some kind of flammable liquid and claimed that there were “pour patterns” on the floor of the home as well as intense low burns which indicated that an accelerant had been used. Moreover, they argued that testing on the carpet inside the home yielded traces of gasoline. However, a Michigan State Police Crime Lab technician had botched the test and came to a conclusion that was not supported by science. Nevertheless, this was seemingly lost on both the prosecution and the defence.

Despite the fact that several witnesses saw David desperately attempt to rescue his family combined with the fact that there was no motivation, he was found guilty of all three murders and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility parole in 1986.

It wouldn’t be until 2010 that the case got a second look. After learning about the inconsistencies within the case and understanding that arson is a forensic science in itself, the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School decided they would re-investigate. According to the Michigan Innocence Clinic, around 3% of all prisoners are innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. In Michigan alone, this would mean that thousands of prisoners are innocent.

Several experts were called in to examine the evidence found within the home. These experts included John Lentini who is known as “the nation’s leading expert” in debunking arson myths.² The carpet samples were retested by State Police, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as a private laboratory.

It was determined that gasoline was not present on the samples. They discovered that a flashover had occurred as opposed to a liquid being used to ignite the fire. A flashover is a rare phenomenon in which a fire explodes and completely takes over a room, engulfing it in fire almost immediately. “In light of modern fire science, there is simply not one shred of credible evidence that the fire at the Gavitt residence was intentionally set,” concluded Lentini.

On the 6^th of June, 2012, David Lee Gavitt was released from the Carson City Correctional Facility after 27 years. Prosecutors had agreed that David had been convicted based on faulty evidence and outdated science.³ Outside of prison, his attorney, Michael McKenzie, said: “There are many other people just like him who should never have been arrested.”

In fact, in the late 1980, around 25% of all house fires in the United States alone were considered arson but today, that figure is around 6%. Thousands of fires would no longer be considered arson today because there is a much better understanding of fire science.

Following his release, the first place that David asked to go was the cemetery where his family were buried. He remained at the grave for two hours. It was the first time he had ever been to his family’s graves. In June of 2014, David filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction; the lawsuit was dismissed. However, in 2019, David was awarded $1.3 million in compensation from the state of Michigan.⁴

Bundelkhand is one of India’s most impoverished regions; more than 40% of the population is living below the poverty line. In addition to poverty, the citizens are trapped in the unending cycles of hardship, drought and illiteracy. Female illiteracy is rife, and infanticide, child marriages and domestic violence is rampant. According to a government survey in 2005 and 2006, 51% of men and 55% of women believed that domestic violence was justified in certain circumstances. ⁶

The discrimination against girls in India starts even before birth. Even in the most impoverished areas in India, there are people that earn a living by going door to door with an ultrasound machine to determine the gender of the fetus. In some instances, a woman will abort a baby simply because she is female. The world average of boys born to girls born is 106 to 100. However, in India, it is 112 to 100. It has been estimated that in the past thirty years, India has lost 12 million girls to feticide.⁷

Utter Pradesh is one of the most unsafe providences for women in the country. In 2013 alone, there were 1,963 reported cases of rape, 7,910 cases of kidnapping and 2,244 cases of dowry death. Quite often, rapes in India go unreported because many women are disenchanted with the government and police force. “The justice system in Bundelkhand is dysfunctional and unreliable,” says journalist and author of Pink Saree Revolution, Amana Fontanella Khan.

As a result of this evident misogyny and lack of action from the authorities, Sampat Pal Devi developed the “Gulabi Gang.” They work together for justice for oppressed and abused women. They wear bright pink saris and carry lathis, which is a traditional stick used for sparring. They use these lathis as a weapon if necessary.  “I don’t advocate violence, but there are times when that is the only way to fight. These are people for whom words and arguments are not enough,” Devi said.

Devi first learned how to properly use a lathi in the 1980s when she used it to defend her neighbour against her abusive husband. Following the ordeal, the husband apparently changed his ways and stopped abusing his wife. “Yes, we fight rapists with lathis. If we find the culprit, we thrash him black and blue so he dare not attempt to do wrong to any girl or a woman again,” she said.⁸

Then in 2002, Devi spotted a man beating a woman in the street. She intervened but she too was beaten. The next day, she gathered five local women and together, they all beat up the man who had attacked her. She never looked back and shortly thereafter, she conjured up the Gulabi Gang.

Devi empathises with the women she protects all too well. When she was just 12-years-old, she was forced to marry a 25-year-old man. At 15-years-old, she gave birth to the first of her five children.

The Gulabi Gang have beaten up accused rapists, wife beaters and have stopped black marketers from stealing from a food bank. While some of the women in the Gulabi Gang only earn 75 cents a day, they say that they now feel empowered. Since their implementation, more girls go to school and the number of rapes in the area is down. Bright pink saris are being sold out in shops across the area as local women are wearing them in support of the gang.

Today, the Gulabi Gang is a network of around 400,000 women, across districts of India’s largest province of Uttar Pradesh. Those who join are registered, given an ID card and wear a bright pink sari. For 500 rupee, they are given a lathi.

When asked what her goals with the Gulabi Gang were, Devi said: “Eradicating child marriage and the dowry tradition, acting firmly against domestic violence and promoting the empowerment of women through education and social awareness. Many argue that those are rights already protected by our constitution, but the problem doesn’t lie with the law, which is good, but with its implementation. We live in a violent patriarchy that permeates all institutions, especially the police and politicians at the highest level. If we women don’t save ourselves, nobody will.”

Their vigilantism has even won the recognition of the state authorities. “The Gulabi Gang has created such a force of women’s rights and awakening that it has brought a new desire to fight against women’s exploitation,” acknowledges Arvind Sen, the superintendent of police of Banda district.

In 2014, a documentary was released in India to celebrate the Gulabi Gang. In it, Devi presses the local police to seek justice for a 15-year-old girl who was reportedly burnt to death by her in-laws. However, later on the documentary it is revealed that the girl was actually killed by her husband, who had been having an affair. The documentary was created by Nishita Jain, who had been inspired by the Gulabi Gang. “It is ironic that in one of India’s most backward regions, women are forced to become ‘masculine’ and aggressive in their fight against machismo and patriarchy,” she said.

While in western media, Devi is considered a hero, she’s still a controversial figure in India. Some celebrate her efforts but others consider her an outlaw. “Society will only change if we eliminate the inherently subordinate role given to women. This is a revolution that has to come from us. Therefore, besides having established self-help and legal counselling groups to address individual cases, we focus on programs to achieve their emancipation. From savings funds to events with companies where women can be hired,” she said.

She was born in Minnesota on the 22^nd of December, 1921, and later moved to Chicago. Her mother was an Irish Catholic who – ironically – named her Mary Jane. “Given my background and reputation and my adopted name, Brownie Mary, my poor old mother is surely turning cartwheels in her grave,” she later said.

While a young teenager, Mary traveled from her home in Chicago to Washington to support union rights for miners. In 1947, she campaigned on the streets in Minneapolis for women’s abortion rights. Mary was certainly ahead of her time.

In the beginning of World War II, Mary and three of her friends moved to San Francisco where Mary met a soldier at a USO dance. They married, had one daughter together named Jenny and then divorced. Tragically, Jenny died at just 22-years-old in a car accident.

Following the divorce, Mary began selling her now-famous “Magically Delicious” brownies from her home in San Francisco.

She was arrested for the first time in 1982 on marijuana charges. When police searched her kitchen, they found 20 pounds of high-grade marijuana.⁹ The judge ordered her to serve 500 hours of community service.

It was this arrest that brought Mary national attention. A number of “Free Brownie Mary” organizations and movements popped up across the nation.¹⁰

She became a fixture at San Francisco General Hospital in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. She prepared and delivered marijuana-laced baked goods to those suffering from AIDS to relieve their nausea and pain. She devoted much of her time volunteering as a caregiver to AIDS patients who she referred to as “her kids.” In 1986, she was named Volunteer of the Year on Ward 86.

Mary was arrested three times in total. She described one of the arrests in 1992: “I was melting my chocolate and mixing my brownies and the dog started barking and all of a sudden, I saw five cop cars or six, I think, pull in the driveway. And I literally freaked.” Police said that Mary had been folding 2 ½ pounds of marijuana into batter when she was arrested.

When she made her appearance in court, she wore a marijuana leaf necklace and was scolded by the judge. Following Mary’s 1992 arrest, a San Francisco supervisor even suggested a “Brownie Mary Day”  to honor her efforts to comfort the seriously ill.¹¹

When questioned, Mary said: “I make them for the worst of the patients, the ones on chemotherapy and the ones totally wasting away.”¹²

The arrests led to more attention for the legalization of medical marijuana which led to the Passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 that allowed patients and caregivers to grow and process marijuana. Dennis Peron, the found of San Francisco cannabis buyers club, referred to Mary as a saint. “Long before, you know, it became fashionable, Brownie Mary gave her life for people that she didn’t even know, essentially young people with AIDS and people who had been abandoned by their parents, by their friends. She took them into her heart, into her home and cared for them,” he said.¹³

Sadly in 1998, Mary suffered a fall at her home and underwent neck and spinal surgery. She was hospitalized numerous times after the surgery and suffered from arthritis.  Mary passed away at a San Francisco hospital in April of 1999, at the age of 77. “Brownie Mary was a hero for our time, in a world with so few heroes. She, like so many strong women from the past, for example, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, was dedicated to helping others… She will rest in peace – she earned it,” said her executor, Larry Bittner.

Their father, Russell Tongay, had an obsession with forcing his children to become super swimmers and started training them almost from birth. Russell had been a spring swimmer in his youth and had hoped to become a famous swimmer like Johnny Weissmuller. He never made it, though, and as a father, he decided he wanted to see them become what he never could.

As newborns, Kathy and Russell were squirted with water to acclimate them and taught them to swim before they walked. As practice, Kathy and Bubba would be dunked in the shower from just 6-months-old and as they got older, the shower was replaced with a swimming pool.

It was reported that by 10-months-old, Kathy could swim 20 feet and by 17-months-old, the two were swimming a quarter of a mile each day. In 1950, Russell staged a performance in the Mississippi River wherein he followed his two children, then aged two and five, in a boat as they swam up the river.

Following this feat, Russell saw a career opportunity and started to promote his children as an entertainment act called the “Aquatots.” During promotion by Russell, he would brag that his children’s diet consisted only of baby food. When a reporter suggested that the duo looked too thin, Russell replied: “I keep them lean because they swim better.”¹⁴ During one performance, he tied Bubba’s hands and feet and forced him to jump off a diving board. The grueling routine put tremendous amounts of strain on Kathy and Bubba’s bodies and as a result, they had abnormally deep chests, hollow bellies and sinewy legs. 

In 1951, they traveled to England. However, their so-called act was considered more abusive than entertainment and a storm of protests broke when Russell announced that Kathy and Bubba were going to attempt to swim the 21 miles of the English Channel. The England to France passage had been completed just four times but never by a child. As a result, both the British and French government refused permission for the swim. The decision left Russell furious. A London newspaper had offered $20,000 prize money to whoever could cross it and it was probably this large reward which had lured Russell in.

Following their trip to England, the backlash just led to more publicity back in the United States. The children went on to star in “Skirts Ahoy!” alongside Esther Williams. By all appearances, it appeared as though Kathy and Bubba truly were set for stardom but soon, tragedy would strike.

In May of 1953, 5-year-old Kathy was being forced to complete a one-and-a-half layout dive from a 33 foot diving board at the Macfadden-Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. She failed the jump and ended up belly flopping into the water from the height of a four-storey building.

Afterwards, she complained that she had hurt her back and that she wanted to go home. Instead, Russell took Kathy to a different swimming pool at the nearby Treasure Isle Resort. The lifeguard here recollected how Kathy was extremely bruised and looked seriously unwell. Nevertheless, Russell fed her some baby food and forced her back into the water. Kathy was heard crying: “Please, daddy, don’t make me swim no more.”¹⁵

Shortly afterwards, Kathy threw up, went into convulsions and by nightfall, she was dead.

The autopsy determined she had died of a ruptured intestine, internal bleeding and infection, presumably caused when falling from the diving board. It was noted that she was extremely bruised, perhaps indicating she had been beaten. Later on, Kathy’s mother, Betty, confessed that she had “swatted” Kathy that morning: “It wasn’t much of a whipping, just the kind any parents give when their children don’t mind.” Russell said he hadn’t beaten his daughter and that the bruising was simply from the high dive.

Russell was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while an investigation was pending. The investigation shed some light into the Tongay family background. As it turned out, Kathy and Bubba had another sibling, Rusty, that had drowned in the bath in 1951. He was just 18 months old. There were reports that a head injury had caused him to drown and many locals speculated Russell had hit him across the head when he re-surfaced during a grueling training session. In fact, Betty said that Russell had slapped Rusty on the head while trying to teach him to float. Betty later recanted this story and said Rusty had fallen down the stairs. Nevertheless, no charges were filed following an inquest.¹⁶

Russell Tongay was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years. He was stripped of his parental rights and his wife divorced him. He was released in March of 1961 after serving less than six years of his sentence. He was released on good behaviour after apparently being a model prisoner. His first years, however, were more tumultuous: he escaped twice, made two suicide attempts and had numerous altercations with other inmates and prison guards.¹⁷ Following his release, Russell married a woman in San Francisco who got an annulment after Russell ran away with her life’s savings. He then moved back to South Florida where he lived his life in obscurity. 

Bubba Tongay, the only Tongay child to make it into adulthood, went on to become a member of Miami Beach Patrol. He worked here for 34 years before retirement.

November 1st marks the annual and ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, a celebration that marked the beginning of the new year and paid homage to the supernatural influences that inhabited the dark days of the coming winter.

As the start of the new year, there was great celebration of Samhain throughout the Celtic peoples. Villagers would gather together to honor the conclusion of the hard labors of the harvest, and animals that were not expected to live through the harsh winter were sacrificed, which naturally led to a communal feast.

It was a commonly held belief, until recent times, that on Samhain the boundary between this world and the Otherworld of spirits was at its weakest, allowing humans and supernatural creatures to pass back and forth between the usually detached realms.

The Christian church attempted to lessen the sinister and supernatural aspects of Samhain with the installation of All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Martinmas – but the ominous Samhain beliefs would not go away and many were later the basis of the modern Halloween.

The connection to the Otherworld led to a belief that the future could best be predicted at Samhain. And, due to the bounty of the recent harvest, many Samhain (and later Halloween) prophecy customs featured apples and berries and nuts. In Scotland, for example, nuts were named after a courting couple and put into the fireplace. The behavior of the nuts – burning quietly together or bursting away from each other – was believed to mirror the future of the actual couple.

Other forms of divination not involving fruits of the harvest were also widely practiced. A common practice was dripping an egg white into a glass of water and then making predictions based on the stringy shape the egg white took in the water.

On Samhain Eve in the 18th century along the Scottish borders, young women would wash their blouses and hang them over a chair to dry. And if she remained awake long after the candles were out, she would see the phantom image of her future husband come into the room and turn the garment over.

Not all of the practices in prophecy foretold glad tidings, however. In North Wales and Perthshire, for example, it was a common practice to make a small Samhain bonfire near each home and, after the fire had dwindled, every family member tossed a stone into the ashes. The next morning, everyone would search for their own stone, and if it was missing, it foretold that the stone’s owner would die before the next Samhain.

Samhain mixed the celebration of a new year with the unsettling interaction of unseen presences. Although the original significance of Samhain practices will be debated for years, neopagan religions such as Wicca have given the holiday new and various meanings.

Clement A. Miles may have best summarized the festival when he wrote in 1912 that the rituals “may be regarded…as a kind of sacrament (to) the vegetation spirit…(and the fires symbolize) sun-charms for the new year, a kind of homeopathic magic intended to assist the sun in his struggle with the powers of darkness.”

Jody Plauche was a ten-year-old boy from Baton Rougue. Like many kids his age, Jody played a number of sports, one of which was karate. However, shortly after his 10^th birthday, Jody’s karate teacher, Jeff Doucett, began a yearlong period of sexual abuse inflicted on the young boy.

Like many other predators, Doucett had charmed his way into the Plauche family and they entrusted him with their young son and eventually, Doucett was spending almost all of his free time with Jody. Doucett was even trusted to take Jody – and the rest of the karate team – to out of state tournaments. To the Plauche family, Doucett seemed like the perfect role model for their shy son. The only person who saw Doucett’s true colours was Jody. When he wasn’t molesting him, he was flying into jealous rages, accusing Jody of loving his father, Gary Plauche, more than him.

Then on the 19^th of February, 1984, Jody went missing from his family home in Baton Rouge. Eleven days later, the FBI eventually tracked him down to a hotel room in Anaheim, California, where he had been held after being abducted by Doucett. They were alerted to the hotel room after Doucett called Jody’s mother and demanded she bring her other three children and join him in New York if she ever wanted to see her son again.

The FBI burst through the hotel room door and rescued Jody. His hair had been dyed black by Doucett as an attempt at a disguise. Doucett was arrested on kidnapping accusations. Jody was sent back to his parents in Baton Rouge where he refused to tell his parents what a medical examination had proved – that he had been systematically sexually abused. Jody later said that he had expected his parents to uncover the truth much earlier. “To me it was obvious. I couldn’t figure out why no one could figure this out,” he later said. “Even at age 11, I knew there was something wrong with the guy.” Jody said that no matter how bad things had got, he was too afraid to tell anybody his secret.

Doucett was extradited from California to Baton Rouge on the 16^th of March. As he walked through the Metro airport alongside two officers, unbeknownst to them, Jody’s father, Gary Plauche, was standing nearby at a pay phone. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses and was carrying a concealed weapon. He was waiting for the man who had sexually abused his son for over a year and had finally abducted him and  carried out unthinkable acts alone in that hotel room.

As Doucett walked past, handcuffed and assisted by a police officer, Gary spun around and fired a single gunshot into Jeffrey’s head, right above the ear. The entire ordeal was captured on camera by WBRZ-TV cameraman, Abram McGull. After firing the fatal shot, Gary said: “If it were your son, you would have done the same thing.”¹⁶ As blood was spurting from Doucett’s wound, Gary threw the gun to the ground and was tackled by an officer.

The killing sparked debate about vigilante justice across the nation with many applauding his actions. According to Gary’s lawyer, he believed he was acting on a “divine mandate” to protect his family.¹⁸Gary pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge and received a suspended sentence of seven years in prison, five years of probation and hundreds of hours of community service. Over the years, the Plauche family received thousands of letters of support from all across the nation.¹⁹

Following the shooting, Jody felt as though he had lost a friend. “I was upset at the time,” he recollected. “He was like your best friend except that he had this one little problem that you wish he would just quit,” he said.²⁰ As an adult, Jody went on to become a key speaker at state conferences on sexual abuse and molestation. He also worked as a sexual assault counsellor and volunteered at the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County. He said that a common mistake people make is assuming that strangers pose the greatest risk to children. “That’s not how it works, the dirty old man in the park,” he said.

Following his release, Gary went back to a life of normality. He returned to his old job as a heavy equipment salesman and continued to volunteer as a coach for children’s sports in the evening. He later lost a bid for a pardon which would have allowed him to carry a gun again; he said he had no interest in carrying a concealed weapon but had wanted to go hunting with his sons.

In 2014, at the age of 68, Gary passed away after lingering complications from a series of strokes. While to many, Gary was simply known as the Baton Rouge father who shot his son’s molester, his family remember him as a kind, fun and loving man – a husband, father and grandfather that was the life and soul of every party. “Everyone thinks of my dad as a killer,” said Jody. “This was not a killer. This was a wonderful man who was a friend to everyone.”²¹

Saddleworth Moor upholds an unusual amount of serenity and natural wonder in the North-West of England. Its bleak landscape stretches for almost 30 square miles and its lakes lie still and silent, unless disturbed by the usual drizzle of the Yorkshire weather. Its beauty is a stark contrast from the dark history it has been tarnished with over the years. Beside those sickening Moors Murders of the 60’s, the peaceful moors are remembered by many locals for even further tragedies. In 1949, a Douglas DC-3 Aircraft crashed there, leaving 24 passengers and crew members dead. Travelling over the moors, the plane was suddenly enveloped in a thick fog and the helpless pilot clipped the peak of a hill. The aircraft was torn apart and burst into flames, falling onto land overlooked by the Dovestone Reservoir. That day of August 19, 1949 will be remembered by many; not only due to the disaster at the moors, but because only an hour later, a Proctor light aircraft crashed just 40 miles away from the first crash site. All 4 passengers died in that second crash, and the county of Yorkshire was hit with unexpected mourning.

Further forward into Saddleworth’s morbid history, is the case of Neil Dovestone. At first glance, the case seems like the plot of an elaborate Agatha Christie novel. From the subject’s name, the bleak location, to the poison found tucked in the pocket of his corpse, you would be forgiven for thinking this case was entirely fictional. However, the case of Neil Dovestone remains one of the most intriguing mysteries of modern British history, and the details are as confusing as they are tragic.

On December 10th, 2015, an elderly man boarded a plane from Lahore, Pakistan to London. After his 4,000 mile journey, the seemingly normal-looking man travelled a further 197 miles north to Saddleworth. He had no suitcase or hand-luggage and he was dressed simply, in a mac coat, plain trousers, and loafers on his feet. As he walked into the Clarence Pub at 2 p.m on December 11th, pub landlord Mel Robinson took notice of this; After all, the majority of his patrons were hikers, well-equipped for the long journey across the rugged terrain of Saddleworth Moor. Looking at the lone pensioner before him, who was a tall, white man, with receding grey hair, brown eyes and a prominent nose, something struck him as odd. He asked for directions to the “top of the mountain”, the summit of the 1,500ft peak above Dovestone reservoir. Despite his out-of-place appearance, he appeared to be acting normally, with no signs of confusion. He didn’t want a drink, not even a glass of water. “You won’t get up to the summit and back down before dark” may have been the last words spoken to this man. Ignoring his warning, the strange man simply thanked Mel and continued on his way through the misty rain on that cold winter’s afternoon.

For cyclists wanting a more challenging ride, the paths jutting through Saddleworth Moor are ideal. The steep inclines of the mountainous paths, along with the sudden descents are ideal for those wishing to test their skills. On December 12th, Stewart Crowther was doing just that. A few hours into his bike ride, Stewart was caught in a storm of freezing, torrential rain when he came across an unusual, slightly amusing sight. A man was lounging on the banks of the hill. Although wearing a waterproof mac, it was no match for the heavy rain and he was soaking wet. Calling out to him was useless, as the thundering rain deafened any voices. He was lying still, with his arms crossed comfortably over his stomach as if he was Cloud Watching. Edging closer, reality hit Stewart like a freight train. He discovered that the elderly man wasn’t resting at all, he was dead. When members of Saddleworth’s dedicated team of Mountain Rescue volunteers arrived on scene, they immediately suspected that the man had suffered from a heart attack after a long hike. When police arrived, they searched the man for any form of identification. In his coat pocket, £130 was discovered. This seemed an unusual amount of cash to carry around on the Saddleworth moors, especially due to the fact that he had no wallet to contain it in. An empty medicine box was found in his pocket. It was labelled Thyroxine Sodium and had writing in both Urdu and English on it. With no passport or driving license on him, the man’s identity was a mystery. For the first time in history, Saddleworth Moor appeared to have it’s very own John Doe. When transported to the Royal Oldham Hospital however, morticians affectionately nicknamed him Neil Dovestone, after the place he was found. Sympathy for the sweet old man quickly turned to sadness and intrigue, as the cause of death was revealed. It hadn’t been a heart attack, it was Strychnine poisoning. This particular poison, once used for pest control in the UK, remains a popular poison of choice in Pakistan where it is used to control the feral dog population. Once fatally consumed, the muscles of the animal slowly contract and death is slow and painful. Is this how Neil Dovestone really wanted to die? Did he think of himself as a pest that needed to be wiped out? As is custom with such cases of unidentified bodies, one mystery solved leads to a dozen more questions. Why had this man travelled all the way from Pakistan to commit suicide on a hillside? More importantly, was it actually suicide?

After working tirelessly, his identity was unearthed in the oddest way possible. It was noted during autopsy that Neil Dovestone had undergone surgery on his hip at some point in his life. Many surgical plates used in such operations are printed with a specific serial number, purely for the manufacturer’s benefit. Searching the database, investigators were able to find a massive clue: That the plate design was only legal in Pakistan, and that it was fitted in a hospital in Lahore. In January 2017, we could finally put a name to this unidentified face. David Lytton. He was 67-years-old at the time of his death, and was born to Jewish parents as David Lautenberg in London. After a family feud, David changed his surname, lived alone, before unexpectedly moving to Pakistan with a man name Salim Akhtar in 2006. Trying to build the case further, attention turned to David’s family and friends. His brother described him as a “bit of a loner” and his girlfriend of 35 years, Maureen Toogood, recalled how he suffered through “bouts of depression” after she miscarried David’s unborn child. Amateur sleuths on popular forum platform Reddit were keen to examine the bizarre case, focusing on some minor details that could prove important. When he arrived in London two days before his death, Lytton met with his long-time friend, Salim Akhtar. Akhtar dropped him off at a Travelodge in Ealing, where he booked to stay at the hotel for five days paying £307 in cash. For whatever reason, David had stayed in his room for just one night. There is also the question of his plane ticket; He purchased a return. Why would he buy a pricey return ticket, if he had intended on not coming back to Lahore?

Rumours quickly circulated that David Lytton had been a spy. In espionage, an L-pill is given to spies in order to avoid a torturous death should they ever be captured by the enemy. Normally a small capsule containing cyanide is swallowed by an agent resulting in a quick death. For many theorists at the time, this seemed a likely explanation as to what had happened. If David had intended to travel to London for a few days on some sort of secret mission and was compromised by somebody at the airport, then travelling up a cold, wet, hill to kill himself and confuse experts and amateurs alike, seemed like a pretty smart idea to protect his identity as an agent of espionage. Far-fetched as it seems, it is only fair to admit that anything could be possible in this bizarre case. Back in Pakistan, his neighbours recalled an incident that happened just a week before his death. In early December, David had frantically ran into a local travel-agents and demanded a one-way ticket back to London. Unusually, David was unable to speak a word of Urdu, despite having lived in the country for 9 years. Whatever it was, something had panicked the man so much that he wanted to return home, perhaps to safety. It seemed likely that David was either running from something, or someone…

Frustratingly, we still have no definite answers. After the inquest into David Lytton’s death in 2017, the coroner stated that “fundamental questions” remain unsolved and an open verdict was recorded. In other words, despite all the clues to the case, nobody truly knows what happened in the final few days of David Lytton’s life. The case is both frustrating, yet tragic for the immeasurably clever, quiet man, who once had dreams of becoming a psychiatrist. His brother Jeremy, reminisced back to their childhood and stated that David was “not of this century”. Whether he was a victim of his own mind, or of something equally as sinister, remains an open question that can never be answered.

She arrived home at approximately 6:37PM and kicked off her shoes, ready to relax for the remainder of the evening. The house appeared eerily dark; Susan was sure she had opened the curtains that morning before going to work. She thought nothing of it. However, moments later, she spotted a man out of the corner of her eye. He was emerging from the shadows in her bedroom. He was wielding a red and black claw hammer and ran towards Susan, swinging the weapon wildly in her direction. The intruder smashed Susan across the head and face but miraculously, Susan was able to get the slight on the intruder after biting him. “If I died, I wanted it to be known that I fought to live,” she said. They fell to the floor, fighting over the claw hammer. “You’re strong,” the unidentified man said. But he truly had no idea just how strong Susan was… Moments later, Susan managed to climb on top of him and pin him to the ground. She placed the intruder into a choke-hold and yelled: “Tell me who sent you and I will call a fucking ambulance!”²² Susan got no answer. As the intruder attempted to throw Susan off, she strengthened her hold until he stopped moving. She had strangled him to death.

Susan fled to a neighbour’s house who called 911: “We have an intruder in the house next door.…The intruder was in the bedroom with a hammer. The woman who lives there thinks she may have strangled him. He was down when she left,” she said to the 911 operator. As Susan  lay in the same emergency room where she had worked as a nurse for the past 30 years, she wondered if somehow her estranged husband, Michael Kuhnhausen, could have been involved in this attempt at her life. Michael and Susan were in the process of getting a divorce and according to the affidavit “her husband was distraught but that she was insisting on the divorce.”²³ As news of the attack circulated in the media, Michael wrote a suicide note and purchased a gun. He didn’t contact his adult children for over a week before asking if they could help him check in to a psychiatric facility. When police eventually got a hold of him, he claimed he hadn’t contacted his estranged wife following the attack because he had learned that she survived. His behaviour was certainly peculiar and raised a few eyebrows.

The man who had attacked Susan was identified as Edward Dalton Haffey and initially, police was believed that the man was quite simply a burglar who had targeted the wrong house. Susan scoffed at this theory because the man hadn’t attempted to steal anything or even ask her where her money was. He was hiding in the shadows, waiting for her to come home. He had targeted her. “He is here to kill me,” she said. “I don’t know why. I don’t know who he is. But his intent was clear.”After an intense investigation, Susan’s suspicions were confirmed:  Haffey had been hired as a hitman by Michael. According to an affidavit filed by the Multnomah County District’s Office, Haffey had once worked as  a custodian under Michael at an adult video store. Haffey was addicted to crack and desperate enough for money that he would commit murder. In Haffey’s backpack, police had found a note which read: “Call Mike. Get Letter.” Michael was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder.

Susan and Michael had split up in 2006 when Susan picked up enough courage to throw Michael out of their house because of his anger and anxiety issues. She had lived in fear for too long. At first, Michael was seemingly desperate for reconciliation but Susan refused. That heartache then turned to revenge and Michael started searching for a hitman to take her out. Three people denied his proposal before he turned to Haffey. In the wake of the attack, Susan was hailed as a hero. However, she took this title with a pinch of salt: “How can you be a hero when you took someone’s life?” she said.²⁴ Susan described herself as “a middle-aged woman in bad shape with bad knees.” However, in that terrifying moment, Susan “made a decision to live.”

When Susan got the chance to face Michael at his trial, she said: “You were willing for me to share your small, miserable life until death we did part –the sooner the better, as it turned out.” At the end of her statement, she said: “I am damaged by what you have done to me. I am damaged. But I am not destroyed.” Michael Kuhnhausen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After his sentencing, Susan sued her ex-husband for $1 million, stating she wanted to make sure he didn’t have enough money to hire another hitman to “finish off the job.”

Susan didn’t have long to worry, though, because in 2014, Michael died in prison from natural causes. While Susan felt relief from the news, she said “I don’t mourn his passing. Instead I mourn the life he could have had, if only he could have opened his heart for those of us who cared about him.”²⁵

In 2008, brothers Dr. Joel Gold, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Ian Gold, a neurophilosopher, coined the term “The Truman Show Delusion.” The delusion afflicts people who are convinced that every waking moment of their life is being filmed for a secret reality show. Dr. Joel Gold encountered his first “Truman” patient in 2003 while working as an attending psychiatrist in the psychiatrist ward of the Bellevue Hospital. A 26-year-old assembly plant worker named Albert had been admitted to the hospital after complaining that his family members were just actors on an unscripted television show where he was the unwitting lead character.²⁶Early on in their research into the perplexing delusion, the two brothers encountered five patients suffering from “The Truman Show Delusion.” Several of them even specifically mentioned The Truman Show to explain their delusions. A visual artist named Brian was admitted to the hospital shortly afterwards and had similar delusions to the prior patient. Then there was a computer engineer, an MIT professor and a lawyer – all of whom believed the exact same thing: That they were all being secretly filmed for some kind of reality show. “I thought I was being followed, like “The Truman Show” and I was a hit. People were following me all over the world,” said another patient. One patient – an army veteran – stated: “I realized that I was and am the centre, the focus of attention by millions and millions of people.”²⁷

The brothers started to present their observations at medical schools. After word of their research spread, the brothers collected over 100 similar cases. “I started to think: There’s something really going on here,” said Dr. Joel Gold. “What struck me was how all-encompassing the Truman Show Delusion is. What does it say about our society? With cameras on every corner, Snowden, P.R.I.S.M., drones, YouTube, overnight fame, those of us with genetic predispositions might be pushed over the edge.” One patient flew to New York City following 9/11 to make sure that the terrorist attacks were not a plot twist in his reality show. Another patient wanted to climb the Statue of Liberty where his true love would be waiting for him and the puppeteer strings would be cut. If she wasn’t there, he would jump to his death. There was also another patient who was convinced that everything – the news, his psychiatrists, the drugs the prescribed – was part of a show. Vaughan Bell, a psychologist who has researched Internet-related delusions, described one of his own patients who believed he was in the virtual-reality universe in the 1999 film, The Matrix.

While the movie, The Truman Show, is a heart-warming watch in the end, the delusion is often horrifying for the patients. Typically, the delusion is a combination of paranoia, grandiosity, and the ideas of reference, which means that patients believe that they are receiving signals that are specifically meant for them. “The wish for fame is a form of grandiosity, and the fear of threats such as surveillance can bring about paranoia,” said Dr. Ian Gold.

British psychiatrists described the disorder in the British Journal of Psychiatry as:

“A preoccupying belief they the world has changed in some way that other people were aware of, which he interpreted as indicating he was the subject of a film and living in a film set (a ‘fabricated world’). The cluster of symptoms… is a common presenting complaint in individuals… who may be in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia.”

The Truman Show Delusion is a new twist on an old mental illness – persecutory or grandiose delusion disorders, both of which are manifestations of psychosis. Scientists have said that the disorder underscores the influence pop culture can have on mental conditions. “The question is really: Is this just a new twist on an old paranoid or grandiose delusion … or is there sort of a perfect storm of the culture we’re in, in which fame holds such high value?” said Dr. Joel Gold.²⁸ Dr. Joel Gold has likened mental illness to lung cancer in the past. He said that some people can smoke several packets of cigarettes a day but not get lung cancer while others can get lung cancer even though they don’t smoke. Many more, though, have genetic inclinations but need a trigger for the cancer to occur. Culture, Gold argues, is mental illness’ equivalent to lung cancer’s cigarettes.

While the chemical causes of psychosis remain constant, it is true that delusions themselves tend to vary depending on culture and era. For example:

• In desert regions, people can suffer from a delusion known as Turabosis, which is the belief that they are covered in sand.
• In Shanghai, deluded people often believe they are being pricked with poisonous needles.
• In 1940s America, people suffering from delusions often thought their minds were being controlled by Japanese via radio waves. In the 1950s, these mind controllers became Soviet spies with satellites and in the 1970s, people began to report that the CIA was implanting their dental fillings with thought control chips.²⁹

The Truman Show Delusion is not officially recognized nor listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.

However, the five friends would never make it to their game.

Following the college basketball game in Chico, the men intended on driving back home. They all climbed into Madruga’s Mercury coupe and drove to a convenience store in downtown Chico to purchase snacks and drinks for the drive back. This was at approximately 10PM. After departing the store, the men seemingly vanished. Several days later, their abandoned car was found some 70 miles away on a Plumas National Forest road. It appeared as though the men unaccountably turned off a freeway on the way home, driving east rather than south. An investigation of the car indicated no signs of foul play and revealed it was in working order, ruling out the car breaking down. “The car was littered with candy wrappers, basketball programs, milk cartons, and other material indicating a good time,” said a Butte County sheriff. ³⁰

The elevation of the site where the Mercury coup was found was 4,400 feet and the area was surrounded by deep snow. It wasn’t looking optimistic. The missing men were wearing only light clothing and the area was exceptionally dense and mountainous. “Some places you can only get in on horseback,” said Yuba County Undersheriff, Jack Beecham.³¹ While the men did suffer from mental disabilities, they all could function quite well. However, their families said that their behaviour tended to “deteriorate” if put in a stressful situation. Nevertheless, it was completely out of character for them to just up and vanish on their own accord, particularly given the fact they were all so excited about their upcoming basketball game. “Ted wouldn’t have missed that game for anything,” said his mother. According to their families, they most definitely wouldn’t have driven up an isolated, unknown road in the middle of the night and just abandoned their car for no reason. “I’m pretty sure he would have come home directly from the game,” said Madruga’s mother. “There’s no way he would have gone voluntarily into the mountains at night.” Several of the men were particularly afraid of the dark and two – Stirling and Wieher – abhorred the cold weather and the outdoors.

Foul play was suspected very early on in the investigation: “They could have stopped to aid somebody, and the people they aided took advantage of them,” suggested Sheriff Jim Grant.

Adding more to the mystery, a witness came forward to tell police that he had seen the Mercury coupe at some point between 11PM and midnight on the 24^th of February. The witness, Joseph Schons, had gotten his car stuck in the snow while driving on the same Plumas National Forest road where the abandoned car would later be found. While attempting to push his car out of the snow, Schons suffered a heart attack. While awaiting help, Schons said two headlights appeared behind him and then stopped around twenty feet behind him. He said that a group of men then climbed out of a Mercury coup and climbed into the second vehicle and drove off. However, Schons later said he couldn’t confirm without doubt that there had been a second car: “I was half-conscious, not lucid, hallucinating and in deep pain,” he later said. He did confirm, however, that he had definitely seen a Mercury coupe. Shortly afterwards, another witness came forward to say she had seen the five men in a red, 1950s pickup truck at around 2PM on the 25^th of February. She claimed she saw the men outside a store in Brownsville, approximately an hour away from where the Mercury coupe was found abandoned.

After the abandoned car was found, a severe blizzard blanketed the area, hindering search efforts and covering potential tracks. Nevertheless, teams of deputies from Yuba and adjoining Buttle counties searched the mountain on foot, on horseback, with dogs, in four-wheel drive vehicles and in a helicopter. The initial search was exhaustive but several weeks later, the ground search for the men was suspended. The Yuba County sheriff’s office said they wouldn’t resume the ground search unless new evidence came forward that indicated that the five men were still in the dense forest.³² While the ground search was called off, a California Highway Patrol helicopter continued to scour the area from the sky. “We’ve searched every place possible,” said Yuba County Sheriff Jim Grant.³³

The case went cold until four months later, when the melting of the mountain snow revealed a tragic fate when a group of motorcyclists went to a trailer maintained by the Forest Service around 19 miles from where the Mercury coupe was found. They noticed the window was smashed and inside, they found the decomposed body of Weiher; his feet had severe gangrene after suffering from frostbite. They also found food, clothing, books, matches and fuel, all of which remained untouched. There was enough food to feed the five men for over a year. It was determined that Weiher had remained alive for up to two months in the trailer before dying of starvation and hypothermia. The late spring thaw then uncovered the bodies of Madruga and Sterling around 11 miles from the abandoned Mercury coupe. Both died of hypothermia. Investigators theorised that one may have succumbed to the desire to sleep that marks the final stage of hypothermia and the other refused to leave his side. Shortly afterwards, Huett‘s father – who had joined in on the search – found his remains two miles from the trailer. Investigators believe that Huett had been in the trailer with Weiher when he died and after becoming confused and scared, fled from the trailer to get away from the body. Despite an exhaustive search, Mathias was never found.

The discovery of the bodies led to even more questions. Why would they walk more than a dozen miles uphill through deep snow instead of walking downhill or remaining in their car? And even more tragically, why would at least one of them – Weiher – live for more than two months in a forest service trailer yet ignore the food, clothing and fuel around him before finally perishing? Their families stick to their belief that somebody forced the men up that mountain road and ultimately, to their deaths.