May 29 2020

Watchers,

It’s always been about one man. William Edward Hickman. That self-obsessed, psychotic piece of shit who stopped the entire world with a barbaric act of cruelty. Much has been written about him, and much has been forgotten. 

Today, I bring you two unique pieces of Hickman ephemera. One, from my own person collection: a photograph of a statue near his unmarked grave in the indigent area of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery.

And I’ll admit I'm mystified by this second piece. A friend passed me a strange crossword puzzle that was submitted to the LA Times and rejected. Not sure exactly when... And the author gave no name, but dedicated the puzzle to "Marion.” 

Could it help us deduce Hickman’s totem? 

Email me your findings.

I will be waiting, 

Hadley Meares

May 28 2020

Watchers,


Thanks so much for solving that hangman whatever-it-was. It would seem those two failson dental students were just as obsessed with the details of their crime as the rest of the world…

But today, I bring you a piece plucked from the sordid history of Arkansas double-murderer Amos Ratliff. His crime was not as well know as the others, but the details were still deeply gruesome. 

So, I had to send an actual fax to a little-known antique shop in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans that specializes in paper artifacts. (They have Ted Bundy’s high school yearbook.) To my great pleasure, the owner photographed the contents of a box labelled "Ratliff - Arkansas.” And right there in the middle of the pile was a statement hand-written by the fiend himself.

I can’t make heads or tails of it. But if you can figure out what lies beneath, let me know. Things are moving fast. We don't have not much time. 

Best,

Hadley Meares 

May 27 2020

Watchers…

First, some personal news: I have a website now. Everything we do this week will be archived on it for posterity...

And second, well, after last week’s shocking turn of events and the person — the thing? — I saw in the attic, I can no longer ignore the evidence before me. And inasmuch I have been hard at work trying to dig up any piece of ephemera I can to help shine a light on this situation. Luckily, y’all have been sending me ancient closed cases since we first made contact. Today, I guess I have more to say about the unfortunate murder of Pearl Bryan. 

Sidenote: Gareth Fitzpatrick contacted me. We’ll be working in tandem now trying to find three vestigal totems to banish the — whatever this thing turns out to be. I met Gareth once long ago on a case in the Inland Empire. Never thought I would see him again after that fiasco. He’s not the best demonologist in Los Angeles, but he has a certain... undeniable presence. 

Anyway, I’ve acquired somecontacts over the years in the business of murderabilia. A gruesome trade, (but side-note: if you want a cocktail napkin signed by Richard Ramirez, I now know a guy.)  It turns out Pearl’s murder was quite popular with the deviants of the time. People traveled from miles around to Fort Thomas to dig bloody pieces out of the ground and sell them. I heard there was even a song...

This morning one of my “guys" was able to break back into the Central Pennsylvania Roller Millls and photograph everything he has from the Pearl Bryan case.

Clippings, souvenirs, and a jailhouse sketch some claim was drawn by Scott Jackson and Alonzo Wailing themselves as they sat in the “death cell” awaiting their fate. Maybe they just wanted to kill some time? 

If you can make sense of it let me know. 

I promise to believe you now.

Best.

Hadley Meares