What happens when a real-life horror story turns into a cinematic legend? Join us as we unravel the sinister tale of Dennis DePue, whose gruesome crimes in Coldwater, Michigan, inspired the movie "Jeepers Creepers." Through firsthand accounts and chilling details, we recount Ray and Marie Thornton's harrowing encounter with DePue, the discovery of his ex-wife Marilyn's brutal murder, and his year-long evasion from the law. This account is not just a retelling; it's a deep dive into how this real-life nightmare gripped the nation and made its way to the silver screen.
But the eeriness doesn't end there. Accompanied by Kevin and Michael, we embark on a ghost-hunting adventure that takes us from a haunted crypt to several Michigan cemeteries. We experience unsettling phenomena, capture eerie images, and emphasize the importance of respectful communication with spirits. From the mysterious history of the Waldruff name to unexpected weather phenomena, our journey is filled with spine-chilling encounters and suspenseful moments. Tune in to experience our paranormal investigations, and hear about the ghostly interactions that have left us questioning the line between the living and the dead.
What happens when a real-life horror story turns into a cinematic legend? Join us as we unravel the sinister tale of Dennis DePue, whose gruesome crimes in Coldwater, Michigan, inspired the movie "Jeepers Creepers." Through firsthand accounts and chilling details, we recount Ray and Marie Thornton's harrowing encounter with DePue, the discovery of his ex-wife Marilyn's brutal murder, and his year-long evasion from the law. This account is not just a retelling; it's a deep dive into how this real-life nightmare gripped the nation and made its way to the silver screen.
But the eeriness doesn't end there. Accompanied by Kevin and Michael, we embark on a ghost-hunting adventure that takes us from a haunted crypt to several Michigan cemeteries. We experience unsettling phenomena, capture eerie images, and emphasize the importance of respectful communication with spirits. From the mysterious history of the Waldruff name to unexpected weather phenomena, our journey is filled with spine-chilling encounters and suspenseful moments. Tune in to experience our paranormal investigations, and hear about the ghostly interactions that have left us questioning the line between the living and the dead.
Good evening everyone. It's your host, melissa at Strange, strange Beyond Insane. All right, so I usually don't hop on the day after an investigation. I'm just so excited to say that I finally made it out to Coldwater Michigan with Michael and Kevin and before I get into the cemetery, like that, well, we went to two cemeteries, but to the cemetery, um, like that, well, we went to two cemeteries, but Coldwater Michigan, the famous um murderer out there that actually sparked the ideas for the movie Jeepers Creepers. Um, it's an awesome story, oh my God, every time I open this picture up he's so, so scary looking. Um. So the killer who inspired Jeepers Creepers was known as Dennis D Poo, I think D Poo Strange last name Evaded police for nearly a year before he was finally stopped, but his actions were forever ingrained in the cinematic universe for entertainment.
Speaker 1:On the 15th of April 1990, ray and Marie thornton were driving along quiet snow perry road in coldwater, michigan. As they drove they played a game to pass the time. The game was to make words and phrases out of the number plates that passed them. As a green 1984 chevrolet truck passed them at high speed, marie won that round of the game. The GZ on the plate made her exclaim geez, he must be in a hurry. They continued their drive and it wasn't long until they passed an old schoolhouse in the middle of nowhere that greeted them with horrific sight. A man was standing just beside it and in his hands was a white sheet covered in blood that he was trying to dispose of. Marie saw the man's vehicle parked between the school and a large tank and knew immediately that the chevrolet um, I'm sorry that the that the chevrolet was overtaken them earlier. It says the Chevrolet took them over, I think it says. I think that's a typo. Anyways, okay, the pair continued driving to find a phone and Marie wrote down what she remembered of the license plate. However, their journey was interrupted when they saw the truck quickly approaching them from behind. That's scary. The Chevrolet followed them closely for a few miles and eventually turned off the road into a rest stop. Ray and Marie still needed to call the police, but they wanted to gather more information, like the number plate. So they courageously turned around and returned to find the truck. Fuck that. As they passed, a tall man wearing a white hat stood at the back of the vehicle with the doors open, changing the number of the plates. He'd also left the passenger door ajar, so the interior was I'm sorry was visible. The inside was covered in a large amount of blood ray and marie could only imagine what the man had done. But they would soon find out on the news.
Speaker 1:Earlier that day, 46-year-old Dennis Dapu went over to his ex-wife's home to pick up his children. Joint custody had been part of the divorce settlement, but Dennis still used the guest house as an office, despite not living at the home anymore. He'd also got into the house when no one was around, even though his wife, marilyn, changed the locks because she was scared of her ex-husband. The couple's divorce was not a surprise and Marilyn had confided in friends that Dennis was a bully. However, dennis was forthcoming during the agreements and offered Marilyn whatever she wanted from the settlement, even though there were underlying issues that their children had seen. The couple's three children didn't want to spend time with their father and on that day in April, the youngest refused to get in his car, and the others quickly followed suit. A fight erupted between the children and Dennis and Marilyn also joined in. Dennis accused his ex-wife of turning his children against him and in anger he pushed her down the stairs and began beating her as their children looked on. Wow, one of the children ran to the neighbor's home to call for help. But on her return Dennis told her that he was taking Marilyn to the hospital. They never arrived at any nearby emergency rooms and Marilyn was never seen alive again. When the Thorntons saw Dennis by the school, he was disposing of the sheet he'd used to transport Marilyn's dead body. Oh my God. When law enforcement and forensics arrived on the scene, the Michigan State Police and the Sheriff's Office had already began their hunt I'm sorry, their manhunt for Dennis. The next day, marilyn's body was discovered in the bush I'm sorry in the brush next to a quiet road halfway between home and the schoolhouse. She'd been shot in the back of the head by her husband.
Speaker 1:In the days following his wife's murder, dennis went on the run and sent several letters to family and friends. He posted 17 letters in total with various postmarks from across East American I think it says yeah, east American states. They were full of long rants in which he tried to justify killing Marilyn. Marilyn had many, many opportunities to treat me fairly during this divorce and she chose to string it out. Trick me, lie to me, and when you lose your wife, children and home. There's not much left. I was too old to start. Over. Three months after Marilyn's murder, dennis sent another letter. This time it was 13 pages in length, quoted verses from the Bible and contained more rambles from the fugitive.
Speaker 1:Unsolved Mysteries aired the episode of Dennis DePue's crime in March 1991, nearly a year after the murder. The night of the episode screened a woman named Mary arrived at her home in Dallas, texas, surprised to see her boyfriend's vehicle in the driveway. As she opened the front door she was confronted by Hank who told her he needed to drive home as his mother was very ill. He asked Mary to make him some sandwiches for the road while he packed his belongings. In reality Hank was trying to keep her busy so she wouldn't sit down to watch a television and see his face staring back. Hank packed up his green 1984 Chevrolet van and hugged his girlfriend. Mary never saw the man again but would soon find out who he really was. Mary's friend was the one to call in the hotline, reporting her friend's boyfriend as Dennis DePue. She gave the operator his license plate number and where they thought he was going, and just four hours later dennis was located.
Speaker 1:Louisiana state troopers were the first to spot the truck. They tried to stop the vehicle but instead embarked on a high-speed chase that lasted for 15 miles. Warren county sheriff paul barrett told his team to shoot out the truck's tires if they could. I'm sorry there's so many typos in these articles. Dennis managed to drive on. I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh. Dennis managed to drive on the rims for half a mile before the car eventually gave up and stopped. He shot at officers with his gun, with two going through the windscreen and one through an open window. He shot at officers with his gun, with two going through the windscreen and one through an open window. He then turned the gun around and shot himself. Dennis was buried at Eagle Cemetery in LaGrange County, indiana, far from his wife's final resting place in Oakland County, michigan.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, so that is where the movie Jeepers Creepers was inspired. Um, so, coldwater, michigan. So a few weeks ago my brother, um, he took a new route for his work and it's in Jonesville, which is Hillsdale County, I think. Let me see, um, so that like like Jonesville and um, cold water and all that is like very close to one another. And my brother was like Melissa, you need to get out there and do some investigations because that place is fucking creepy. And just imagine he was there during the day and he said that that place just gave him the creeps and all he could think about was me and all my paranormal shit. So I'm like, okay, so I've been wanting to go out here for a few weeks. Well, I realize it's very close to cold water. And of course, kevin Kevin, when you listen to this, he has not seen Jeepers Creepers. Kevin is not a huge horror movie person. I don't think Michael is either. Like, michael loves Halloween, but he likes like the fun old school Halloween. Of course I'm all into like the slashers and the horror movies, but after going out here to Coldwater, I hope we can get Kevin to see Jeepers Creepers. And any of you listening, you guys remember the first Jeepers, creepers like that, that was fucking scary. And just reading this short article, like the truck, like um, getting on their ass and following them, it's just I'm picturing that thing flying, whatever the devil man was. Okay. So last night, um, because I knew we weren't gonna, like, obviously, be able to go up to the house, because we't gonna get there till like 11 30 at night, because it's like a two-hour drive um, I was looking at other stuff to do around there. Oh, I need a sip of my coffee. Okay, so I found this story um, it's Haunted.
Speaker 1:Michigan Oak Grove Cemetery in Coldwater, michigan. The Oak Grove Cemetery in Coldwater was established in 1854 and is nowadays split into two sections, thanks to US 12. The cemetery's old section is on the north side of the road and contains many graves of civil war soldiers, and we got to see that last night. That was really cool. Race car driver scott brayton brayton, who was killed during practice runs for the indy 500 in 1996, is buried here, as well as the former guinness records world's oldest person, maud, I think, m-a-u-d. Maud Ferris, luce, maybe Luce who died in 2002 at the age of 115 years old from pneumonia crazy, 115, holy shit. Okay, so it says once you get to the part of the old graveyard, look for a mausoleum with vines growing all over it at the end of the circular pit. This is where many ghosts have been seen. It's also where photographers have captured what they believe to be ghosts not some lame orbs, but actual, misty, human-like figures near the top corner, which I did get quite a bit, quite a bit of pictures. Um, kevin did find this.
Speaker 1:We did drive around a couple of times, um, we also drove down to the, the dead end road, um, right by the cemetery, and I went to go walk across the bridge, um, by myself, cause the boys were in the truck, and I was like, oh, no, um, and plus the water that was running underneath of it, um, you could hear how fast it was flowing and you guys know I had PTSD, was like water at night because of what happened years ago at the Marina with the ice fishing incident.
Speaker 1:So I was like, yeah, no, um, I didn't, I didn't know how good the bridge was or whatever, and, like I said you, you you could like hear how fast that body of water was moving, and no offense to you guys, out in cold water, but it smelled like shit over there. I was like I do not want to fall in that nasty ass water, um, but one thing that Michael noticed right off the rip was how beautiful the old ancient um rod iron fencing was definitely original, in very good condition, okay. So, um, I do have some um recordings that I want to play. Okay, and this whole like pit thing um is well, it's very strange. Um, immediately we had action and that those spirits loved my bear last night, like my, um, my little trigger bear. Uh, they, they just would not leave that bear alone for like the first 15, 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:So when you look at this, this cemetery, and you see the pit and you see the aerial view, michael said that it's definitely a lamb breath. It's really weird. So, this pit um, definitely I think there's a lot more that goes into it. Um, or I think, like I think, certain people buried there they did not give us the best feeling last night. So let me keep scrolling and making sure I didn't miss anything before I start the recordings. I would love to go out here during the day. This cemetery is huge, by the way. All right, let me get back on here. Okay, let me play my actual. So I got some on GhostTube too that I want to play to you guys okay, we are in cold water, michigan, at um hillstill, hillstill oak grove.
Speaker 3:It's Hillsdale County or Hillside County, whatever Township Oak Grove Cemetery. We think we might have spotted a sheriff outside of the cemetery, so I'm going to keep my recorder going See if we get any action. We have gotten a lot of paranormal action. Whoa, did you just see that it's warm? I hear dogs, I hear dogs. I hear dogs. I wonder if the canines got their dogs with them. It'd be crazy if they were looking for a body.
Speaker 1:We're just out here ghost hunting. It's felt like that since we were up at that tomb. Can I get in the?
Speaker 3:truck. You can say, maybe. Kevin just asked if he could get back in the truck and I said, maybe. Are you in the truck?
Speaker 1:You guys, that noise that you're hearing, I'm like taking shutter shots on my camera. So that's what you're listening to. And, by the way, I will have a lot of my evidence on TikTok. So you know, if you guys type in Strange, strange, beyond, insane, you will see me on TikTok. I probably won't post those until later because I still have to go through some of them, but I did get full body apparition, so I'm just letting you guys know that the noise is actually me.
Speaker 3:I'm going to make a. What's your name? Record it. My Jesus, are you tired? Are you tired? Sorry, kevin, try to hold really still.
Speaker 1:Okay, so right here I'm taking pictures of Kevin. Kevin got really really really nauseous and then Michael had his head down on the truck and we were still outside. Now this is the end of the night. I'm going to play back some stuff like when we first got there, but I did want to do this first because Kevin was feeling so sick. That's when I told him hey, kevin, can you hold still? I wanted some still shots of him. I was doing some like shutter shots.
Speaker 1:I kid you not like I only got, I got two pictures where you can barely see his face and you just like see this blackness go over him and like I didn't say anything. So like when I see stuff like that until you tell me, oh, my god, I'm really sick, I can't do this, then I'm like, okay, let's get out of here. But if you're standing on two feet and you seem to be all right, I'm not gonna tell you like what I'm seeing in the lens, right? So I just keep taking these shots and I'm like, holy shit. And literally he said again can, are you in the truck? And because he had his app going and I was just um taking pictures and you could feel the heaviness. Like me and Kevin were extremely drained and Michael was like I'm fine, I'm fine, but he was getting really tired because Michael's still learning, like when things are draining your energy, spirits I just say things because it could be multiple but this blackness over Kevin.
Speaker 1:As soon as he said are you in the truck, they said I'm in the car and Kevin goes, oh shit. And then I literally with my naked eye, like seamless, just like it almost looks like black smoke, it like went like right over the tailgate and I literally watched it, just like hover over Michael for probably like five seconds and I so I was. That's when I asked Michael, are you okay? And he said yeah, I'm just calm. And I just was standing there taking a bunch of shots. But the very last um pictures that I took were the best ones and that's where I got the full body apparitions. But let me play this one for a couple more minutes because I got a lot more to play. Are you behind me? Um, um. You guys need to get away from Michael. I literally just seen what you did.
Speaker 3:Don't do. Someone just touched my lights Um, when I went to go put the lens on.
Speaker 1:Michael, something dark went right across. Let me just touch my lights. When I went to go, put the lens on, michael, something dark went right across. You guys cannot harm us, you cannot touch us, you cannot come with us, you cannot be in the vehicle. I'm going to ask you nicely to get out of the vehicle. If you're in there, we can do this a nice way. We said that when we came here. You cannot leave with us, you cannot come in the vehicle.
Speaker 3:Huh, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:We can't do that. We're only here to communicate. Remember Something's literally on my right leg.
Speaker 3:It's not like that. There's nothing, that's okay, it's good, that's hard. Yeah, she was killed.
Speaker 1:Who was killed. So now it's anything that I try to get a picture of now. There's black nickels right in front of it. Can you please stop going in front of my camera lens? Dark magic, dark magic. Okay. So we don't mess with that stuff. We are grounded, we are living, we are in control, we don't mess with dark magic and we do not like the demonic word, and that was brought up many times tonight. So we are done communicating. Yeah, figured, yeah, um, we're done. Yeah, it was um. So I mean, I don't know if, like the kids or teenagers did this or whatever, but, um, it was when me, michael was hanging out in the truck for a little while, when, um, kevin and I were just um when we first got up to that tomb, and it was okay. Let me see where I gotta start at. I have. So many recordings.
Speaker 3:Uh, let's see it's already red, kevin. Yeah, well, mine is at 100 right now. As soon as you open the door. As soon as you open the door, hey, remember spirits.
Speaker 1:respectfully, you have to stay here. You cannot enter the vehicle, you cannot leave with us. You have to stay here. We're only here to communicate and just hang out. I'm watching you, you're watching me. Okay, that's all right.
Speaker 3:Can I step out of the vehicle? Please Will you communicate with me? Yeah, Thank you the vehicle. Please will you communicate with me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much so I'm melissa, we got kevin and michael too. Okay, is that all right?
Speaker 3:Is that alright? Are you ready? They said yeah, twice yeah, oh, I'm like what are?
Speaker 2:you doing Sure no seven spirits yeah, the first.
Speaker 3:There was ten. Another seven man, I forgot to bring my books right. You died in the street. Oh god what, literally. I opened up the door and I went from 25 to 100. No, thanks.
Speaker 1:Died in vehicle. Died in vehicle.
Speaker 3:You need to screenshot that Screenshot, that, kevin, are you coming out with me?
Speaker 1:Yes, Are you coming out with me? Oh man, these bugs are fucking wet. They're like Alright, there's going to be a lot of pauses because I got all different.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, it's not easy what's not easy.
Speaker 2:What's not easy. What do you think that's not easy? Alright, we gotta go up to the crib. Wait, I'm gonna start this here.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here. I'm gonna start this here.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna start this here slower, all right, we are approaching the crypt. Oh, there's like a little bench to sit on. Come on, hello spirits, are you with us? Oh, there's writing on here 84 he died. It says you are trespassing.
Speaker 3:Who says that Screenshot? That H Waldron Waldron II maybe?
Speaker 1:Dude, you just scared the shit out of me. It says he died. Help. We're not here to help. Okay, we can't help, but we can communicate. Follow, follow. Follow the arrow. Follow the arrows. 84. Book Find find, help, kevin, what? Okay, you guys we're, we're reading this, excuse me on the mausoleum, like the crypt. So someone carved this and then it just said book. So I would like to do some research on this place. I'm probably gonna have to go out there to like a library to find anything it's etched in here. Find, help, he died. Follow the arrows. What arrows, what arrows? Arrows are locked with a pointing up. You see a pointing up. Yeah, there's another arrow pointing up Warning, warning.
Speaker 1:Alright, so I did not get physical pictures of the writing or the crypt because I was, you know, using my video app, but I don't know Kevin hasn't.
Speaker 1:We haven't talked today because we all kind of had a paranormal hangover. I know Kevin said that his back was really hurting last night and I've never really heard him talk about his back hurting ever. I was okay. I mean, I felt pretty uneasy there the first like half hour, but on the way home I felt so sick, like so nauseated, and I was just like, oh, I just want to get home, but anyways, the point to that is is that when I get the pictures from Kevin cause he did all the pictures, I did a few I'm going to look up that last name, waldruff, or the second and I want to like learn more about this pit because, again, from the aerial view of the pit, the part in the cemetery, it is like Michael called it a lambreath from like the aerial view which is like a garden with like mazes or whatever aerial view which is like a garden with like mazes or whatever.
Speaker 2:Um, it reminded me a lot of the cemetery sunken garden um that we've been out to in Fenton. Um, okay, let me play this.
Speaker 1:This is us walking up the stairs. What the hell is that? This is us walking up the stairs.
Speaker 3:What the hell is that?
Speaker 1:So that looks like a hospital. God damn it. Why are we going through this?
Speaker 3:Look at my bear's going off again.
Speaker 1:How come you guys only play with the bear when we turn around, can you?
Speaker 2:make the bear go off again.
Speaker 1:Please, can you make the bear go off again. Please, Can you make the bear go off again. You really like my bear. Huh, I know mine too.
Speaker 3:That's what mine was doing. I'm not getting anything.
Speaker 1:Can you guys please make that bear go off again? Can you touch it for me?
Speaker 3:The light. Let me turn it off. I need a little bit. No, I know I'm inside it. Oh, I just got a wolf of perfume.
Speaker 1:Okay, you guys. So the next part of our videos we're not going to have any lights on. And now they're talking, which means that that's their hope. Smell that you can almost taste it.
Speaker 3:What the fuck? Hello, it's weak. It's weak, weak. What the fuck, hello, what do you think? Weak? She called me weak, weak. No, I've seen a shadow. He's small again who's wearing perfume karma, karma.
Speaker 1:who's getting karma? Are you getting karma or can you help me make make sense of all this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, they're going to show back up Inmate. Oh, inmate. Great, you were an inmate. What were you charged with? If you don't mind me asking, what's this? Oh well, that's not very promising. Okay, I turned the lights off for you. Kevin was right. Can you communicate now? Can I get a first name, please? That's what? I seen her when I said what the fuck?
Speaker 1:and then when I put the all right, let's go back to that, because I heard something right before that what I got you.
Speaker 3:I saw something. First name I saw for you, kevin, was right. Can you communicate now? Can I get a first name? Please Give me that what I got you. I saw something run my eyes. I can't even see right now. Yeah, I told you I seen a shadow run across. That's what I seen earlier, when I said what the fuck? And then, when I put the light on it, said weak, I didn't want you to see it, I didn't want you to see it, you don't want you to see it. You just caught it in action. Tap, tap. That was that tapping earlier. Yeah, are we safe here? Yeah, I know this is a weird cemetery, like I feel like the pit is like something, the gauntlet recently.
Speaker 1:Michael screenshot that recently. What in the pit? So they literally on Kevin's app said Michael you leave Michael alone.
Speaker 3:Listen, we are grounded, we are safe in our own way. We are in control this situation. We are only here to communicate, nothing more, nothing less.
Speaker 1:Okay can I have a first name please? Who am I speaking to Start Start what we didn't look up any names before coming out here, like of any of the graves.
Speaker 3:So I don't know who any of you are that I'm talking to? I'm Melissa. I'm Kevin.
Speaker 1:We're the ones out here right now wanting to communicate.
Speaker 2:Curse.
Speaker 3:I don't like that. Can you make the tapping sound again Lost, lost.
Speaker 1:What was this pit actually used for? Did somebody practice a ritual out here? Did somebody do something out here? Did somebody do something out here?
Speaker 3:My phone's vibrating Like the energy is like real intense right now.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't feel anything yet. Oh, I just heard something over there, michael.
Speaker 1:So this place, um, the pit part, was just really weird, because there was like no indicator that it was going to storm yet and then, all of a sudden, as soon as we started getting responses, um, the wind would pick up just in that circle that we were in. I mean, you watched it. It was like a, like a whirling of wind. Um, I do have a few more on here, but, um, the cool thing was is that we went to another cemetery too after this, um, down, probably like maybe 12 minutes away, and this was called Sand Creek Cemetery. Um, I definitely want to go back, because I was on live on TikTok and it literally said want to go back because I was on live on TikTok and it literally said um, I think it said like Hillside or Hillsdale, wherever we were, it literally we got out of the truck and it literally said that and I was like, wow, that's awesome. Um, so we were by Little River Railroad, little river railroad, and then the cold water um, river runs through that and like around that.
Speaker 1:Um, let me see where it says so we haven't done a lot in jonesville like, which is right over there, um, but we plan on going back. So anyways, um, the storms last night were insane. Michigan has been getting hit pretty hard with rain, but okay. So, going back to this weird weather and these strange things out ghost hunting with this kind of weather, I got some awesome videos of the lightning a few nights ago and I was showing my friend at work, kaylin, and she's like you need to slow-mo those videos because the lightning literally looks like a projector screen, like it goes back and forth, it's like it's like you shine light through, literally through a projection like or I'm sorry, projector screen. And then a friend that I have that lives in Roseville, they ended up flooding out to like their car doors. They lost power for like a whole day. They had hail. I see that there was just another tornado in Wisconsin. There was a tornado like a month ago in shit. Where was that? Oh my God, I can't think of it, but it killed a little boy. We don't usually get weather like that in Michigan, so it's been pretty insane.
Speaker 1:But yeah, definitely I will have the evidence up on TikTok. I don't really put a lot of stuff on Facebook because I think Facebook is boring. I don't really put a lot of stuff on Facebook because I think Facebook is boring. I don't really use it for my platform, for my podcasting and all my videos that I do. But yeah, if you guys want to see some apparitions in the pictures, look up my TikTok. They'll be on there, if not late tonight, by tomorrow. But thanks for listening. You guys Tune in for some more.