Have you ever raised an eyebrow at the forgotten tales that lurk in the shadows of our hometowns? Join us, Jess and Hannah, on a riveting journey through Holyoke, Massachusetts, where the imprints of 19th-century immigrants' hopes and heartaches are etched into the fabric of the city. We kick things off with a dash of humor, sharing those quirky moments in relationships and the fiery passion of the ACOTAR series, before we pull back the curtain on the chilling story of John Kemmler, a German immigrant whose American dream dissolved into an abyss of tragedy.
As we navigate the unsettling corridors of Kemmler's life, we also shine a light on Holyoke's vibrant history, from its proud status as the cradle of volleyball to the storied halls of Wisteriahurst. Our latest episode doesn't just recount the harrowing murder that shook a community; it's an invitation to reflect on the darker chapters of human experience, threaded with the captivating local lore of Western Massachusetts. And let's not forget – our new fan mail feature means your stories and laughter are now part of the mix, making this episode a mosaic of the eerie, the historical, and the undeniably human.
If you'd like to show your support for Wicked Wanderings and join our community of dedicated listeners, you can start contributing for as little as $3 a month. Your support helps us continue to explore the darkest and most intriguing mysteries, bringing you captivating stories from the world of true crime and the unexplained. Click the link to become a valued member of our podcast family.
We'd love to hear from you! If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to email us @ wickedwanderingspodcast@gmail.com.
Wicked Wanderings is hosted by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Jess Goonan. It is produced and edited by Rob Fitzpatrick. Music by Sascha Ende. Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 L...
Have you ever raised an eyebrow at the forgotten tales that lurk in the shadows of our hometowns? Join us, Jess and Hannah, on a riveting journey through Holyoke, Massachusetts, where the imprints of 19th-century immigrants' hopes and heartaches are etched into the fabric of the city. We kick things off with a dash of humor, sharing those quirky moments in relationships and the fiery passion of the ACOTAR series, before we pull back the curtain on the chilling story of John Kemmler, a German immigrant whose American dream dissolved into an abyss of tragedy.
As we navigate the unsettling corridors of Kemmler's life, we also shine a light on Holyoke's vibrant history, from its proud status as the cradle of volleyball to the storied halls of Wisteriahurst. Our latest episode doesn't just recount the harrowing murder that shook a community; it's an invitation to reflect on the darker chapters of human experience, threaded with the captivating local lore of Western Massachusetts. And let's not forget – our new fan mail feature means your stories and laughter are now part of the mix, making this episode a mosaic of the eerie, the historical, and the undeniably human.
If you'd like to show your support for Wicked Wanderings and join our community of dedicated listeners, you can start contributing for as little as $3 a month. Your support helps us continue to explore the darkest and most intriguing mysteries, bringing you captivating stories from the world of true crime and the unexplained. Click the link to become a valued member of our podcast family.
We'd love to hear from you! If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to email us @ wickedwanderingspodcast@gmail.com.
Wicked Wanderings is hosted by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Jess Goonan. It is produced and edited by Rob Fitzpatrick. Music by Sascha Ende. Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 L...
Speaker 2:
it's gonna be all right, all right, with a little beer, everything's gonna be all right all right, is it hot in here? It's getting hot in here, so take a couple hold on before I am so hot, I'm gonna take my clothes off.
Speaker 1:
Ew, don't be freaking weird I would think you'd like it when you breathe like, like that in your ear.
Speaker 2:
There was actually a TikTok about that where it's like the girls are like, they hear, like, and then the husband actually does it. It's like ew.
Speaker 1:
Also. I tried to get Dave to do the like arm up, lean into and he would not do it. He was so awkward about it.
Speaker 3:
What's the arm up lean into?
Speaker 1:
Well, not do it. He was so awkward about it. What's the arm up lean into? Oh well, no, like she's leaning up against the wall, and then you go up to her put your arm above her rob and lean into her, like you're gonna kiss hannah yeah, rob would be awkward about and giggle he like, oh god.
Speaker 2:
So I'm like re-listening to the ACOTAR series. Yeah, so I'm on to the second book, which is like one of the spiciest books, and I was driving home yesterday listening to it.
Speaker 3:
I'm like oh, my God.
Speaker 2:
I need to pull over. I'm going 90. I got to slow down.
Speaker 1:
Maybe I should listen to the second one you need to it's free until May 31st when you have to lose.
Speaker 2:
Oh, that's right Okay.
Speaker 1:
Hi I'm Jess and I'm Hannah.
Speaker 2:
Join us as we delve into true crime, paranormal encounters and all things spooky. So grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us. This is Wicked Wanderings. Hi jessica, hi hannah, hi rob hi are you guys ready for my episode?
Speaker 1:
yes, are you ready for your episode?
Speaker 2:
I am so ready now. This is so local, so local.
Speaker 1:
You can't really get more local like murder in the building, like the show no like murder in this building oh okay, we're not that local.
Speaker 2:
This is from holyoke massachusetts what?
Speaker 3:
yeah, crazy before we jump in, we should mention our fan mail.
Speaker 1:
Oh, that's right, Did we get another one?
Speaker 3:
No, we only have. We got one fan mail. So if you listened to last episode, we introduced fan mail. So if you go to the show notes right now and click on it, it says send us a text message. You can click on it. It will open up your text app in your phone and you can send us a text message. You can click on it. It will open up your text app in your phone and you can send us a text message. We got one from last time, so Jess is going to read it.
Speaker 1:
So it says hey, it's Heather, great episode. Thanks, hannah. I liked how Hannah said tequila makes my clothes fall off. It was by Miranda Lambert, very funny. Okay, bye. Thank you, heather, for roasting Hannah Thank you.
Speaker 2:
It was deserved.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so if you want to send us a text, go in the show notes, click send us a text and we'll read it on the next episode.
Speaker 1:
Heather, you're awesome.
Speaker 2:
Thank you. So let's go to Holyoke, massachusetts. Holyoke, massachusetts, was a booming city in the 19th century for textiles and paper mills. And I will say that I've been in the mills in Holyoke because there was a brewery like on the upteenth floor and I remember walking up with one of my good guy friends like ten floors up just to go to this brewery. So I mean they're there, they're huge.
Speaker 1:
They're still there.
Speaker 3:
They're still there, that brewery. No, that brewery closed.
Speaker 2:
That's what I said.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you said, they're still there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I was wondering if the brewery was still there. Oh, I thought you meant the mills.
Speaker 2:
No, I think the mills are still there. Yeah, the mills are still there, but no, the brewery is not there anymore. But it used to be a lot of fun. So we had immigrants and migrants flocking to Western Mass in the 1800s wanting to build a name for themselves. A lot of Irish canals were being dug by hand in order to get product out to be sold, which is kind of an interesting fact because I didn't know they were dug by hand. Some of the items on those barges were steam pumps, blank books, silk goods, hydrants, bicycles and trolleys.
Speaker 2:
Around 1870, a second wave of migration came from Canada and then the Irish from the South and Boston. There was a lack of being able to build infrastructure and that causes a lot of issues when you're trying to house and employ a new wave of people and families. The person we're going to talk about is John Kemmler. John Kemmler is an immigrant we are going to talk about today and he was German-born and had been in the States for about 17 years. Kemmler had a job at a textile factory in South Holyoke that specialized in wool. The Kemmlers had twin girls and then had triplets, so two girls and one boy. The boy was unfortunately stillborn and one of the girls died from unknown causes about a month later. I know really sad right.
Speaker 2:
So, the Kemmlers had seen tragedy in the last year and now dealing with an unstable income. With the ebb and flow of new people coming to the area, kemler was feeling a little over his head and realizing how many mouths he had to feed. Kemler said that he went out west to denver to find a job, but he also took his family's entire savings up to 260 and was gone for six months.
Speaker 2:
Of course he did the dickwad I do not think it was uncommon for a man to go out west to try to find a better way of life, because we do hear about that. But to take the whole savings seemed odd and strange. And he just got up and left his job. It wasn't said like he lost it and then he went to look, or if, like he just left it and was like. This isn't going to work out. I'm going to go out west.
Speaker 1:
Doesn't he know? You don't quit a job unless you have another one lined up.
Speaker 2:
Most of the factories at the time had apartments which is a nice way of putting it because they were trash for the workers to live in so they could be close to the factories. And I kind of just kind of a random thought, but I think about Hershey in Pennsylvania, because he actually made really nice towns for his employees to live in, but I don't think that's cool, yeah you know about that.
Speaker 1:
No, I've never been to hershey, but we're going to gettysburg, which is kind of by hershey so hershey, pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:
I me and rob watched a documentary. It was pretty amazing he wanted to build. If I'm gonna build this big kind of factory, I'm gonna need to house and have a whole town, which is why it's hershey Pennsylvania for all my people.
Speaker 3:
I think the show was called how the Food Built America, or something along those lines.
Speaker 2:
It was really interesting.
Speaker 3:
It's on the History Channel.
Speaker 2:
When Kemmler came back in June 1879, the factory business finally said you got to go, you aren't working for us anymore.
Speaker 1:
So we need our place back.
Speaker 2:
Oh they need the apartment, the apartment back Right, because you don't work for us anymore. It's kind of like, hey, you have a company car Like six months later you're still driving it Like, hey, dude, like you can't have our car anymore.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it is unclear, like I said, if he was fired or let go, or he just ghosted them and then went west for a while, but needless to say, he didn't have a job. Currently, Kemmler has three girls twins who were six years old and a 15 month old. He didn't know how to tell his wife that they were homeless. So he said to her go buy a hat for our youngest child. Just go out, go to the store. And she did. He said to his three daughters I have candy upstairs.
Speaker 1:
Let's go. What child wouldn't follow their dad if he had candy?
Speaker 2:
I mean, they follow strangers with candy all the time, unfortunately. So kemler instead prepared a type of gruel that they were eating, which I picture more like a mush, like a, like a porridge yeah, nasty with a special ingredient no cyanide of no.
Speaker 2:
Rat poison. He made one of the children take a bite, but it didn't work because she threw it back up. Kemler decided this would not work, duh, and decided on another plan. He dragged one of the twins to the front bedroom where he shot her in the back of the head, behind the earlobe.
Speaker 1:
You know, this is not where I thought this episode was going. Even though we talk about murder all the time, yes.
Speaker 2:
He then took the other twin to the rear bedroom and did the same to her. The youngest, I imagine, was petrified by this point. Her father then took her, put her on the bed face down, put a pillow over her head and fired two shots, one behind each ear.
Speaker 1:
What kind of fucked up Chris Watts bullshit is that?
Speaker 2:
each year. What kind of fucked up chris watts bullshit is that? Now, when I'm doing this episode and in the show notes it'll say what book I read I was like there's got to be more to this story, because it was. It was such a short portion of this book. Yeah, and I found an article and I was flabbergasted about this guy and it's not over yet and and I have no words.
Speaker 1:
I really have no words I can tell.
Speaker 2:
So Kemmler then locked the apartment door behind him and walked to the bar, where he paced back and forth for about 20 minutes. He then ordered a beer, drank it and asked the bar owner to come outside. He handed his house key to the bar owner and said I have just killed my three children.
Speaker 1:
I have taken my last glass of beer and walked away, and so his wife comes back and is like so the bar owner, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:
Was like what? The fuck? Went to the house, got there about the same time the mother did, and they saw that their children were dead, but the youngest was somehow still alive at that point and she got two shots to the head. Kemmler was not hiding from the law by any means, because he decided to go to a different bar to drink after giving his keys away and confessing to his crime.
Speaker 1:
So he lied. He just said he had his last beer.
Speaker 2:
Not only is he a murderer, he's a liar word got around of what he did and a gentleman named adolph engel saw kemler and bombed the sheriff's station. Kemler still had the weapon on him, with four chambers empty and a piece of paper in his pocket that said cyanide and potassium, which I don't know if it's because he's like okay, this is what I have to look for at the store.
Speaker 1:
But I thought that was very strange. His shopping list yeah.
Speaker 2:
Kemmler admitted what he did and was locked up for further investigation. The sheriff and Mr Engel listened to him confess and say quote my fear was out of. The girls grew up. They might be led astray. They would be happier in heaven. I have been meditating on this crime for 10 days. I too, heaven. I have been meditating on this crime for 10 days. I too want to die now. I intended I truly did to kill myself after them, but seeing their dead forms.
Speaker 1:
I shrank from it. Oh, what a pussy. He went to denver, got another family and then came back to take care of this one you think?
Speaker 2:
did I? Oh, you're fired, you're fired. You got it part right, I had no idea anyway, okay as the evening progressed, someone came to the jail to let kemler know that his youngest daughter was alive and fighting for her life. Kemler then made a scene asking if he could be let out so he could finish the job wow what the fuck. Yeah, yeah, this man did not show any remorse for what he did. Obviously, he slept fine. He ate good portions of his food and debated with the officers if his mugshot was good enough. Wow.
Speaker 1:
Wow, he's a piece of work.
Speaker 2:
He certified insane. His youngest daughter did not survive, unfortunately, but before he was hanged he wrote a letter to the wife of an overseer of his old job. It was determined that he wrote the letter before he committed the crimes. So he was literally afraid of his daughters becoming prostitutes in the street. That's what his fear was.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so I'm sure my dad had that same fear but he didn't kill me, nor did I become a prostitute. People did not pay me.
Speaker 2:
So it was weird that he wrote a letter not to his wife but to another woman, but it said what I have done is the last act of my life. I wish I could have died today. I give up life because of its trouble. I went west to begin another life but could not because I couldn't forget my children. I went into business with a partner but couldn't stay and returned to holyoke to wind up my family affairs, poison my, my children and shoot myself through the chest Lies. This life is not worth living for any longer and I can't live without my children. My wife knows nothing about this. She believes we are going away.
Speaker 1:
He's an idiot. Yes, he is. So I can't live without my children, so I'm going to murder them in cold blood. My life is so hard.
Speaker 2:
Kemmler wanted to be hung for his crimes within a week of going to court, but the judge said he had to wait for his trial date in december. And you know where he awaited trial in holyoke, at the springfield jail oh, that is now tore down. They used to be on the water, no shit. And if he was gonna be, he would have fucking hung around here.
Speaker 3:
Right here.
Speaker 2:
He would have fucking hung. Fuck hung here, mother fucker.
Speaker 3:
Right here Before this high school was built. We don't talk about where we live, Rob.
Speaker 1:
I think people know by now, after all the stuff we've talked about.
Speaker 2:
Dude. When they were like he waited trial at the Springfield Jail, I was like, oh my god they just tore that place down like what?
Speaker 3:
five, ten years?
Speaker 2:
ago. Was it really? At this point, it might even been more than that 10, 15 years ago. Come at me, john kemler.
Speaker 3:
Fuck you man you're what year was this again.
Speaker 2:
He's a pussy 1879 1879 okay long time ago. I mean, I guess in retrospect of life it's not that long ago right A little over 100 years, 150. Yeah. So, jessica Hannah, remember how Kemler took all his family's money to go west to find a job Because he had a hoochie out there? Apparently, that is not the whole truth of what he was doing and apparently you called him out on it already. Yeah, called him out on it already. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Two months after the trial day was set, the chicago police received a letter from a doctor telling them about this german man who had just killed his three children in holyoke, massachusetts. The doctor then goes on to say that he's looking into a case of insanity for this patient and wanted to know if a man named rudolph bernard resided in chicago and owned a bar. The chicago police responded back and said yes, rudolph had bought a bar back in march and then married a woman shortly after and he's rudolph. Five days after the marriage he left for holyoke, massachusetts, telling his wife he had to attend to some family business and she hadn't heard from him since family business, aka killing my fucking children pictures were sent to chicago and the wife was able to identify kemler as rudolph bernard.
Speaker 2:
Because of this, the judge ruled insanity and he was put into an asylum and was said that he had bright's disease, which I had to look up because I'd never heard of it, yeah, so what is that? It's an old term for kidney disease.
Speaker 3:
Oh.
Speaker 2:
And they thought he would die sooner rather than later. But if you look into death records you may find a John Kemmler who died in 1897 at the Bridgewater State Farm in Massachusetts, which is an asylum of suicide by strangulation. So he eventually hung himself. It is possible that this is the same John Kemmler and his health issues had been misdiagnosed or misreported and maybe he felt guilt after all, I know he was feeling sorry for himself.
Speaker 1:
I don't think he felt guilt. That was 20 years later.
Speaker 2:
Right, Exactly Because they're like oh, he has Bright's disease. He'll die within a couple months.
Speaker 1:
You know what? I'm glad because he wanted to hang. Then I'm glad that he had to wait it out.
Speaker 2:
looked at death records for her and they saw that she lived long and they were like. We hope you found peace. That I mean with the miscarriages.
Speaker 1:
You lost five children, five children like that's enough to fuck somebody up, right?
Speaker 2:
because you went to buy a hat like fuck you. John kemler. Yeah, what, what a douche canoe. Yeah, that is a major douche canoe.
Speaker 3:
Major, major douche canoe.
Speaker 2:
That is the story of John Kemmler, and I'm sticking to it?
Speaker 1:
I'd hope so.
Speaker 2:
That's very interesting, I thought that was an interesting case and you said it was 1897?. Yeah, Well that he died.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, okay, so I looked up when this building was first opened or built, it was 1898. So up when this building was first opened or built, it was 1898, so yeah, he could have been hung here, but he didn't hang.
Speaker 2:
They didn't hang him, no, but yes, but he could have.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm getting at. Yeah, because before this was built there was a small prison, a small jail for in springfield that was here, and they used to hang everyone here on this site so I'm wondering if, like those people that were being hung, they kind of got transferred here as an end-of-life place, because they hung literally right in the parking lot.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because right in the parking lot is where they hung people.
Speaker 3:
Not the parking lot, but it was this site that there was a jail. It wasn't as big as this building. We really should look into that. We really should. But if you're saying Springfield Jail, maybe it was the jail that was on this property, Because I don't know when that one was built. Because that was more of a modern day. I say modern, but it was, you know, brick.
Speaker 2:
But I thought all prisons back then would have been brick I know, but this is the late 1800s. More stone and stuff like that, I don't know, I mean well, I guess they would use what they had right. So if we think about this area, it's a lot of redstone.
Speaker 3:
That's more just East Longmeadow.
Speaker 1:
Some fun facts about Holyoke. It's where volleyball was invented. On a brighter note, and I don't know for sure. Remember when I did the episode about the Springfield Witch Trials, one of the residents was a Holyoke, holyoke, holyoke. Have you been to Wisteria Hearst?
Speaker 2:
No, it's beautiful. I've driven by it a lot of times, yeah it's a beautiful home and in one of their windows, when they redid it, the actual stained glass window is actually at the Met in New York City. Well, shit, yes, my brother has shown me it and he's, like you, recognize this and it says from holyoke, massachusetts, from a mystery hearse. So it's pretty popular to be at the freaking met like, yeah, I, I rather enjoyed this story because it's local yeah, I love learning local.
Speaker 2:
Yeah history yeah, not everything was roses. I mean, I feel bad for the children. It was kind of a very, it was very sad. I I kind of wonder what also happened with the second wife. You know, I think it was easier back then to become someone else because there wasn't as much yeah, ways to identify you.
Speaker 1:
Well, obviously he became rudolph.
Speaker 3:
Yes, rob so I found out some information about the Springfield Jail. The old York Street Jail, which was right on the Connecticut River, was in Springfield. It operated from 1887 to 1992, when the current Hamden County House of Corrections was built in Ludlow in 1992. The jail was site to several hangings, including the last legal one in Massachusetts, which took place on December 30th 1898.
Speaker 2:
Do we know who that was? Because that might be an interesting case. It does not say so it could have been here then, because they didn't open that one till 18.
Speaker 3:
1887. They opened the York Street one.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so they probably were over there, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:
Interesting Might as well. Just give everyone your GPS location.
Speaker 3:
I know right, it's not like you can get into this building.
Speaker 2:
Okay, let's keep going.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, wanderers for a wonderful evening. Thanks, Wanderers. Thanks for the story, Hannah. I had no idea. It was a shorty, but a goody. That's what she said. Maybe, nah, no, never.
Speaker 3:
Don't forget to send us a text message.
Speaker 1:
And like on all of our socials Like and subscribe.
Speaker 2:
Bye, bye.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2:
today, wicked Wanderings is hosted by Hannah Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1:
And me.
Speaker 3:
Jess Gunan, and it's produced by Rob Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1:
Music by Sasha End. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to leave us a rating and review, and be sure to follow us on all our socials.
Speaker 2:
You can find the links down in the show notes and if you're looking for some wicked cozy t-shirts or hoodies, head over to our merch store thank you for being a part of the Wicked Wanderings community.
Speaker 1:
We appreciate each and every one of you.
Speaker 2:
Stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering.
