American Hauntings Podcast

John Torrio was ready when the new Prohibition law went into effect, but he seemed to be the only one. He was waiting impatiently for everyone else to catch up. He’d been predicting Prohibition to his friends and business associates for months and knew it would be how organized crime could amass untold amounts of wealth. To take something that had always been legal, and make it illegal, especially a vice like alcohol, and then expect Americans to adhere to the letter of the law was incredibly naïve. Torrio knew that by taking advantage of Prohibition, it was a way for people like himself to become millionaires. 
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This episode was written by Troy Taylor
Produced and edited by Cody Beck

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The strange and sometimes sinister world of America’s homegrown religions, faith movements, and cults is filled with bizarre characters. There are many that most listeners have undoubtedly heard of, but what about the cult leader who actually became a king?
In 1847, the only man ever crowned king within the continental United States began his rule from a secluded island in Lake Michigan. James Jesse Strang was a religious leader, politician, attorney, teacher, writer, and newspaper editor, who attracted more than 2,500 followers to a place that he ruled with an iron hand.
After being ejected from the Mormon Church, he created his own sect, for which he served as prophet, seer, and revelator and built an organization that he hoped would rival the church of Brigham Young in Utah.
But his strange adventures as a church leader and king would eventually lead to his assassination and the fall of the only kingdom that’s ever existed within the United States.

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She was only a few feet from safety.
On a freezing December night in 1975, Carol Ann Rofstad never made it inside her sorority house. Instead, she was found beaten and dying beside the building the next morning.
Her murder shocked the Illinois State University campus — and may have been connected to a series of disturbing attacks on college women.
Nearly half a century later, the case remains unsolved.
This is The Girl Who Never Reached the Door.
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Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859
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The date when a shaft of divine light came down from the heavens and transformed Franz Edmund Creffield from an obscure, backwater evangelist into Prophet Joshua the Second remains a mystery. We also don’t know the exact spot where the spiritual ordination occurred but – we do know that it occurred in 1903 in Corvallis, Oregon.
History has shown us that trouble tends to follow in the wake of modern-day prophets and if the prophet come with an Old Testament beard and a desperate need to chase after the skirts of young women, then the trouble is sure to be multiplied and, of course, lurid and salacious, too.
This particular backwoods prophet had both the beard and the taste for women, but it was said that he also had tremendous power. In fact, when he raised his voice in holy anger, as he did on one memorable occasion, the city of San Francisco shook horribly, then fell, trembling and smoking into ruin, becoming one of the greatest disasters America has ever known.

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John Torrio was 31 years old when he first came to Chicago to free his uncle by marriage – Big Jim Colosimo – from threats by Black Hand gangsters. But Torrio’s service went beyond that. He was soon reorganizing and expanding Big Jim’s vice rackets and while they continued to thrive for a short time, trouble was on the way.
On the other side of the city's powerful people, William Thompson ran for mayor with the wide-openness of a champion athlete on the side of truth, justice, and the American way. He actually vowed in this first campaign that "I am going to clean up Chicago," but by this third campaign, his picture was hanging in Al Capone's office, and the gangster was donating as much as $250,000 for Thompson's re-election...
Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.
Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859
New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytayloroddities
Check out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.com
Want an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon page
Find out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.com
Follow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTL
Follow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTL
This episode was written by Troy Taylor
Produced and edited by Cody Beck

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donations

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