Imagine a criminal conspiracy and cover-up so so massive in scale, involving the highest levels of government and industry, that it threatens the very fabric of the American system. Now imagine that the crimes of this criminal syndicate are so horrible, so horrendous, that the mere mention of them would be frowned upon in polite society, and the very idea of such a conspiracy being possible would be laughable and downright absurd. Yet, in September of 1982, the unexplained disappearance of a 12-year-old boy named Johnny Gosch, set a series of events into motion that would have earth-shattering ramifications to this day.
In this episode of Sword and Scale, we'll delve into Part 1 of a series titled The Massive Cover-Up one of the strangest and most outrageous criminal conspiracy theories ever told, including audio from many of those who witnessed the story unfolding firsthand. We're also delve into all the bizarre side-stories that spin off like fractals into their own mysterious endings.
The show concludes with a viral video that made headlines last week. In keeping with the theme, it is that of a sexual abuse victim named Jamie that decided that if the law wasn't going to help her, perhaps YouTube and the outrage of millions could. You won't want to miss this clip.
From a young age we are instinctually scared of the evil that lurks in darkness. The name we've culturally given this idea is "The Boogeyman". On July 10, 2012 Aaron Schaffhausen became the Boogeyman to his own children.
Dating apps like Tinder have completely transformed the dating scene, particularly among millenials. They allow users to swipe ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on hundreds, maybe even thousands, of profiles in their area. Some people go on these apps looking for friendships, others for romantic connections.
But not everyone on these apps is in the market for friendship or romance...
When 34 year old Dale Harrell is brutally attacked in his bed with a claw hammer, the truth about what caused the altercation, and who was at fault gets blurred between a number of versions of the event. Because there were 5 other people in the home at the time, police have no shortage of witnesses to interview, including Dale’s three children. As a mountain of lies told by Dale’s wife and roommate are uncovered, the truth about the couple’s life begins to emerge… and it is shocking.
On the evening of March 3rd, 2015, two individuals in their car were stopped by a young man stumbling into the roadway of Magazine Street in Boston. The young man, identified as 17-year-old Luis Rodriguez, was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to his head.
When investigators asked Luis who shot him, the only words he could get out were “Rev”. Who was “Rev” and what connection did he have to Luis? What were the events that led to the senseless attack on this teenager? The only Reverend that had any connection to Luis was the well-known Reverend Shaun Harrison, Dean of Academics at Boston’s English High School. Further investigation would show Shaun had another side of his life that only few were aware of…
22 year old Brandi Montgomery’s charred body was found in her parents’ burning home on a January morning in 2006. Her husband called 911 claiming to have seen Brandi being attacked by an unknown perpetrator, and the tiny town was in a frenzy, being that this was the first death ruled a homicide since the 1960’s. In many cases, we don’t ever have the luxury of finding out what truly happened, but we do in this story.
Throughout the day of October 17th, none of 27-year-old Sasha Samsudean's friends couldn't reach her. Obviously concerned, they phoned 911. When police arrived at Sasha’s apartment, there was no answer to their knocks. Eventually they were able to get inside and found the young woman’s lifeless body, battered and wrapped in a comforter. Bleach had been poured on certain areas of her body and it had been determined through an autopsy that Sasha had been strangled to death.
In this special early-release two-part PLUS Episode, we go back to further examine the strange case of the death of Natalie Bollinger (first covered in S&S Episodes 109 & 110). The bizarre events surrounding this case are just as curious and interesting as the social media madness that followed, with amateur WebSleuths taking to the internet in droves to try and solve a case with little to no information. At the center of it all was a disheveled homeless man by the name of Shawn Shwartz, who Natalie Bollinger had sought a protection order against and who posted dozens of angry rambling videos talking about his uncontrollable panic attacks. After a year of silence, Shawn has reemerged, multiple videos a day attacking the victim, the victim's friends and family, anyone who has ever assisted him, along with the host of this show.
If you haven't heard the first part of this story, you can find it here...
Episode 109:
http://swordandscale.com/sword-and-scale-episode-109/
Episode 110:
http://swordandscale.com/sword-and-scale-episode-110/
PLUS Episode 46:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sword-and-scale-26401697
Brenton Walker would always try to pick up on women in the small towns surrounding his 80-acre parcel in rural Michigan but on July 30th, 2016, he was actually successful. He met Heather Young and she came home with him after the last call. They had such an exciting night that changed both of their lives forever.
The world of online dating can be a precarious one, filled with peril. When Sydney Loofe met a young girl by the name of Audrey, she thought she had made a friend and potential girlfriend. Instead, she got sucked into the deceptive and bizarre world of Bailey Boswell and Abrey Trail.