Hey weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with Morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go. it's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion no ads just you and early access to new episodes You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.
Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, You can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being.
Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones.
Explore bestsellers like my sister's title. new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time.
I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk, and I am absolutely loving it.
I love all the Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. visit audible.com slash morbid.
Happy Egg believes in spreading happiness through the simple pleasure of high-quality and delicious eggs.
And when I say delicious, I am not joking you.
They're eggs. are the highest quality eggs that have ever, ever come into existence in my opinion.
They're free-range farming standers working with small family-owned farms to raise their happy hens outside on a pasture, coupled with the care and treatment that their hens receive, lead to tasty, tasty, ridiculously tasty, yummy orange yolks that are rich and full of flavor. happy egg hens spend their days outside and they're better for that they have those deep orange yolks that just look incredible if you're like a You want to put that on your food Insta, that's the kind of egg you want on your Insta.
And you want that egg in your body as well because it just tastes so yummy, yummy, yummy.
Taste the difference and look for that yellow carton at the store near you.
Visit happyegg.com slash morbid to find a store near you.
Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. And this is morbid.
It is morbid and it's Halloween-y. Halloween, Halloween.
Halloween. And actually this was supposed to be a little earlier in the week, but we had a Nor'easter up here in the Northeast.
In the Northeast. And that's why it's called the Nor'easter.
You know, I didn't know that. I know. I love that you didn't know that.
I asked her that the other day. I was like. why do they even call it a nor'easter and i was like well directions and i was like you know oh You're right.
It has nothing to do with Easter. No, it certainly does not.
We had a pretty gnarly one and it knocked out the power for our entire area for days on end.
Yeah, we were without for like two and a half days.
Yeah, it was back to Puritan times. It was horrific.
That was tough. I did, however, play a lot of Best Fiends.
Yeah. I did too, actually, because we didn't have any internet, no Wi-Fi, no cable, no nothing, which sounds, again, first world problem.
Like we are like we didn't have TV. Yeah.
But like it's a very cushy life. It is a very cushy life that we could be so destroyed by not having having wi-fi like for sure uh but it was like weird because we've just had it yeah it was just so And it was funny.
Not funny. It was like ironic because you were talking about that in the Villisca axe murder. how quiet everything was.
And then I was sitting there in bed like, oh cool, I'm literally never going to sleep then.
Yeah. dead silent and so dark and then the wind was crazy so like if it hit your house in a certain way it was making like super creepy like howling noises yeah it was definitely it was a throwback yeah for sure for a few days and with kids it was like It was tough.
Yeah. But we figured it out. We kept them busy.
We made it through. We were very lucky to still have heat.
So I can count on that. We had like the stuff we really needed.
So that was good. But all our like extra... things we were like meh but it also made it so that we could not post our episode because we didn't have the internet But here we are.
We're here now. Hello. We have power. We have all that good stuff.
And we are able to post this episode. And finish it.
So that's good. But another in the meantime, and I couldn't wait to talk about this.
A huge true crime thing happened this past week.
Yeah, it did. One of the unidentified victims from the John Wayne Gacy case was finally identified.
That's huge. Like... Because that was like almost like 40 years ago.
Yeah. Like that's a long time. And imagine like his family.
Yeah. I'm sure other people passed away in his family without knowing whatever happened to him. oh yeah and the people who were on scene that day like I read something in the Chicago Sun Times and it was one of the attorneys that was there from Chicago.
His name's Terry Sullivan. And he said, quote, the entire Gacy story was on the face of one of those skulls.
And he said it had the look of horror, pure horror.
Oh, my God. Trains we found were no longer bodies, bodies removed by time, bones.
But the look on the face of one of those skulls from the crawlspace was something I can never forget wow so this i mean that case if you go back and listen to our episodes you'll see brutal he's a horrific monster and there are they're still unidentified victims, but I we now know that one of those victims has a name and it is Francis Wayne Alexander and he was 21 years old baby yeah and he was adorable like the picture of him you're just like oh I just want to grab your face.
I know. And you're like smiling in the picture.
It like ruins you. Yeah, and he lived on the north side, and he had disappeared.
No one knew where he went, and that's unfortunately what happened.
I'm glad that there's closure on that. I hope that brought people in his family closure and friends.
But to any of his family members that are still around, like, ooh, our heart goes out to you.
Absolutely. Because that is horrific. But rest in peace to Francis.
And we're glad that it's at least moving in that direction.
Hopefully we can get them all identified.
I know the cool thing is that DNA is like just coming even now still so far that I think a lot of these victims hopefully will be named.
Yeah, hopefully we'll keep seeing the progress in that.
But yeah, so that was a really... really good but still somber thing that happened this week.
Yeah. Other than that, I think it's really just been... the lead up to Halloween, which is always like a kind of sad to me the week before Halloween.
Okay. I agree. Cause I'm like, Oh, no it's almost over in fact i have like a little halloween countdown thing and today i did it to one and i was like Yeah.
It's, it's like great, but you're like, oh no, but then it's going to be over for another year.
Yeah. Like not that spooky season ever leaves here, but.
No, of course not. Like the official spooky season.
Right. Like haunted houses are going to be gone.
Then at the same time, like, Elena and I were saying this to each other the other day.
Like, then it's kind of exciting because, like, all the holidays come.
Like, this is a really good time. It is.
We love this time of year. It just feels like a happy time of year.
It does. hopefully it's gonna be a happy time of year for everybody i think so keep it spooky the whole year round But in the Halloween spirit, we decided to do a story that has like... a lot of lore with it, and it's also a Massachusetts story, which...
Hello. We love a Massachusetts. This is a terrible story, but we love to talk about Massachusetts.
This is the story of Sharon Gregory and the man who brutally murdered her in 1988.
All right. You'll find out what the like, you know, that there's...
All the lore and rumors that came along with this that kind of fit with the Halloween theme.
So this took place in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
It's a very small town. It has about 18,000 people.
I've literally never heard of it. It's only like a few hours away from where we are.
It's like in western Massachusetts. Oh, okay.
Our murderer that we're going to talk about is Mark Branch.
He was 18 years old at the time of the crime. um I should say this ahead of time not a ton is known detail-wise about this it was like scrounge city to try to find anything I could so I won't have like the most detailed background on all these people like I normally would.
It's just not out there. Yeah. Um, But he did, what we know is he did have a history of emotional trouble as like a teen and a young kid.
He was not, from what we could see, we don't know if he was diagnosed with any kind of mental illness.
But he definitely had some emotional turmoil going on.
Mm hmm. Now, he attended New Salem Academy for a few weeks and then dropped out to receive care at McLean.
I don't know why it's so hard for me to say that word.
McLean. McLean. why it won't come out right it did but yeah McLean so anybody from Massachusetts probably has heard of McLean Hospital yeah um Again, not a lot is known about what exact care he received there and for what, but he was obviously...
He was emotionally disturbed at the time.
And that's what a lot of people around him will say that.
His parents, Betty and Richard Branch, really didn't comment on his mental health or anything really about this case, so we have very little to go on when it comes to that.
Now, the Union News published an article saying March branch Mark Branch was socially awkward, aggressive, and emotionally disturbed.
Everyone they spoke to after the crime who knew him said, He was teased a lot.
People really treated him kind of like shit, but he would also retaliate with aggression.
So it kind of like forced to this cycle.
One thing they all agree on is that he talked about killing people a lot.
Oh. He would offhandedly say, I wonder what it would be like to kill someone.
Or like, I would really like to kill someone.
Like, it was just very casual. Like, I would like to do this.
Probably look more into that, everybody around him.
Yeah, exactly. And he would say it very bluntly, just, I want to kill people.
But because he was quiet and kind of emotionally unwell at the time, they figured he was kind of just going through it.
Acting now. And they were like, he's not really... Because nobody thinks anybody's really going to do it.
I know. We probably should, like, work on that a little bit.
I know. It's hard, though. Because it's like...
You never think you know a murderer. Of course not.
That's not what you think is going to happen.
But it looks like his parents did try to get him help.
They did what they could. Right. It states that that same article says that he went through public school in Massachusetts, then went to a private alternative school, and then went into two programs for emotionally disturbed adolescents, all while doing some really messed up things to his classmates that we're going to talk about in a little bit.
Oh. One thing we do know about Mark Branch too, is that he loved horror movies.
Now, specifically, he loved Friday the 13th in Jason Voorhees.
Okay. often referred to as the Friday the 13th murder.
It did not happen on Friday the 13th. It's said that because he...
I love the movie. Jason Voorhees. very weird idol i was i was going to say a very interesting item because one not real But I guess, I mean, it does make sense to some degree because, like, Jason was picked on so much and he probably...
He felt like a kindred spirit with Jason.
Before we go any further, obviously we always say, we've said it a million times, movies do not make people kill people.
They don't. No. And it's not even like how Billy was like movies.
Don't blame the movies. Movies don't kill people.
They make killers more creative. Yeah, it's not even that.
If you're going to kill someone, it's not because of movie.
Told you to. You're a disturbed person who's going to kill someone.
Exactly. But they really back then, especially when this was happening in 1988, Everyone blamed anything, everything that they could outside of the actual human.
It was that around the same time of like satanic panic.
Oh, the 80s were definitely a satanic time.
So this was like really perfect. But Video Expo 1 in Greenfield said, when they talked to a manager there, He said, quote, he rented strictly gore, period.
The gorier, the better. Again, this proves nothing.
Robert Kuesnel, who managed the video store, said that Branch also helped him out there sometimes on the weekends just because he loved movies in general.
But he was also working at a stop and shop at the time.
Okay. No, normal, like 18 year old kids.
I was going to say. You know those photos sitting in your phone, the ones that make you smile every time you scroll past them?
Well, at smallwoodhome.com, they believe that you deserve better than that smallwood home transforms your favorite memories into stunning gallery quality artwork that tells your story All you have to do is upload your photo to smallwoodhome.com, choose your style from classic framed prints to elegant wrapped canvases, and they'll handle the rest with natural wood finishes like stained almond, black or white, plus options for sleek acrylic fronts, there is a perfect match for every home.
And the best part? Every small wood home piece is handcrafted right here in the USA by real artisans who care about quality.
No assembly lines, no shortcuts, just beautiful personalized art that is made to last.
I love a handcrafted thing. Over 3 million happy customers have already discovered why smallwoodhome.com is just different.
They deliver gallery quality at prices that make sense and ship in just days.
I have so many photos in my phone that I'm about to send over to them that I can finally hang up on my walls and I'm really excited about it.
Right now, get 30% off when you use code MORBID at smallwoodhome.com.
That's promo code MORBID to get 30% off your first order at smallwoodhome.com.
Give your memories the showcase they deserve.
Now, Sharon Gregory was 18 years old as well.
She was a Greenfield Community College freshman, and she was majoring in psychology.
Friends described her as, quote, An independent and determined to be an artist, a painter, like an amazing young woman.
Wow. Also, people said she was quote, one who loved art and the theater and cared for all people.
She had many friends and the ties with her family were very, very close.
She was an individual of free spirit. I love that.
Sounds awesome. I know. She sounds like awesome.
Now, she and Mark Branch knew each other.
But we're not like best friends or anything.
They were like acquaintances, really. Oh, and they're from the same town?
Yeah, they're from the same town. Yeah. It's some of the same people they were hanging out with, so they would cross paths a lot.
And they talked. They knew each other. Yeah.
It's not like they were just like passing in the night.
They knew each other. Okay. Now a friend of Branch's who did, he hung out with regularly. said the night before the murders, he had hung out with Sharon Gregory and two of her friends, and he said he saw all of them together.
Mark was with them. Okay, so this was one thing that they were doing together.
The only issue that seemed to point to any kind of motive in this murder, because that was the problem.
Once we get to the whole crime, you're going to say, what the fuck happened?
Right. Like, why did if they're just acquaintances, like nothing seems to have tipped this off.
Now, apparently, a lot of sources point to the idea that there was like a psychological profile that apparently had Mark's diagnosis on it from the hospital.
He had it in his possession. Apparently Sharon got it in her possession at some point.
And a lot of sources claim that she was using it as a psychology student to do a profile on him.
Okay. Tons of sources say that. I wonder how she got it.
Well, we'll get into that. Because at first I couldn't find anything that said how she got it.
Right. and then finally I found an affidavit that gave me a little more information about what was going on which like cleared up a lot of stuff because a lot of even when we get to the point where they point to him as the killer I was like Are you guys sure, though?
I don't know where your evidence is, but the affidavit has more in it.
Now, Chief David McCarthy said... Police Chief David McCarthy said, quote, Sharon Gregory had in her possession a psychological profile of Mark Branch. and that profile was wanted badly by Mark Branch.
He didn't like her having it, and he wanted it.
She did a profile on him and she made it known to him what the profile was.
They're very vague when they talk about this.
Just, she had a profile, that's it. the end okay but we'll get more into it don't worry So another friend of Mark's named Scott Landry said he was with Cheryl Gregory.
Cheryl Gregory is Sharon Gregory's identical twin.
Oh, shit. Yes. It was Cheryl who had heard Mark talking about the psychological profile that was done on him while he was receiving treatment. medical treatment at the hospital.
It was Cheryl who asked, can I see it? And asked him, can I take it home to like read through it?
And Mark agreed, but said, don't show it to anyone.
And when you're done reading it, burn it.
OK, so I think it was just like bizarre.
It is. I can't imagine like one of my like acquaintances or friends going to treatment and then like being like, can I read? this one but apparently people were interested I think he talked about it a lot so maybe it was just it's it's a strange scenario and i mean she's a psychology major so well and cheryl isn't is the twin so yeah i don't even know if she's a psychology major Or, no, I mean... Sharon.
Sharon was. Now, Sharon knew about this because, of course, her twin. sister cheryl uh but no one was able to find this profile after the crime okay this profile no one could find it It wasn't in the home where Sharon ended up being killed, and it is said in a lot of sources that Sharon was writing that psychological profile on Mark.
They never found that either. And they say that's why he was mad, that he didn't want her writing this psychological profile on him.
But the affidavit I found proves otherwise, that it was Cheryl who asked for the official psych profile he had, and he willingly gave it to Cheryl.
Sharon knew about it, but that's as far as that part goes.
I honestly wonder... Would he have killed Cheryl if Cheryl had been the one at home?
That day? Because what we will see is that he came into their house and he killed Sharon.
We're going to talk about it. Do you think he possibly can, like, did they look so much alike where he was confused?
I don't know how alike they looked. but they're twins, and she was the one with that profile.
Right. And he's the one that wanted it back.
Yeah, and I wonder if it was Cheryl in the house that day, would he have killed Cheryl?
Right. It's horrifying to think about. Regardless.
I'm sure Cheryl thought about that too. Yeah, the affidavit really like threw me for a loop when I read that because I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
No one seems to be positing that it could have been Cheryl that he was actually going after.
Right. Because there's no other... There's nothing that says he was specifically going after Sharon.
Right. I think he was being weird with them no matter what, because I think they had talked to friends, I won't mention it. and he was they were like he's like weird and i don't know like they felt a little uncomfortable with him okay But nothing would have pointed to this.
Right. No. Yeah. So let's talk about the crime.
So on October 24th, 1988, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Mark Branch dressed in full jason voorhees cosplay oh he was wearing the hockey mask which is terrifying he had like seven of those hockey masks okay that were like props yeah Which like on any other thing, I'd be like, cool collection.
Right. But with this, I'm like, a little different.
Hate it. He had on the black boots, the outfit, everything.
He set out for Sharon's apartment. plant in sharon's apartment where she was with her like her family's home okay Now, he apparently was planning to end this psychological study once and for all.
That was the motive that they put out. no one knows for sure exactly what happened like you know moment by moment when he got there But what we do know is that he showed up, he was seen by a witness, which we'll talk about in a second.
Oh, my God. Oh. he found her and brutally stabbed her to death oh that's so her twin sister cheryl found her Oh my god.
Her brutalized body in the bathroom in her bathtub.
Yeah. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the head, chest, and abdomen.
In the head? Yes. Now, police chief David McCarthy said, quote, I've been a cop for 25 years and this is the grossest killing I have ever seen.
She received a lot of stab wounds and there was a lot of blood. it was a gruesome scene i would think so which like yeah absolutely but also i was like the grossest killing like that's what you have to say yeah I just thought that was like a very weird way to say it.
I was like, you want to like... thesaurus that really quick.
Yeah. Like I don't know. Maybe let's pick a different adjective.
You don't really want to be quoted as being like gross.
Gross murder. Like that's like. Yeah. It was just a very strange way to say it to me.
Maybe let's just go with worst. Yeah, I was like, I don't know.
Now, again, I found that affidavit and it has the officers who came to the scene first.
And it tells a horrifying tale. So here are some of the tidbits I pulled out of it.
One of the things says, and this is directly... right from the affidavit preliminary examination of the deceased at the scene showed evidence of multiple stab wounds about the back and the head, and that the deceased's throat had been slashed.
There was a large amount of blood in the bathroom and outer hall, as well as traces of blood on the stairway.
The weapon used to inflict the injuries was not found at the scene.
The deceased was closed. Now, Detective F. Peter Clark spoke with the deceased sister, Cheryl.
She resided at the same address with the deceased and their parents.
So again... It could have been her there that day.
She told Detective Clark that the deceased had recently been concerned about an individual named Mark. who Cheryl knew to be a person who hung around with Scott Landry of Maple Street Greenfields.
The deceased had told Cheryl that she was frightened by the manner in which Mark stared at her.
So that's When you look at every other source about this, which is not a lot, when you look, you really have to dig.
They don't give you, they just say, okay, well, Sharon was making this psychological profile on him.
He was mad. He didn't want it done. So he killed her.
Right. And it seems like there's way more to this.
But then they're like, so the police just arrested Mark.
And you're like... How did they know that though?
Like when there's no connective tissue there at all, I'm always like, why did they just suddenly think of Mark Branch?
And like what evidence did they have? Exactly.
But now we see in the affidavit that Cheryl had said she was concerned about him.
And then we will also see there's physical evidence as well that ties him that they don't mention in any... and a witness you said yeah so immediately obviously as soon as Cheryl says Mark Mark Branch is now the name that everybody's saying.
Of course. Now, other than Mark Branch, Sharon was very popular, very well liked.
She had a lot of close friends and family.
None of them had anything against her. There was no enemies here.
Police went to Mark's home to chat with him after this, but he wasn't home.
His mother spoke to the police and said she hadn't seen him since that morning.
And she described the car he was driving.
She said he was driving a gray Chevrolet Chevette and it was in good shape.
I feel bad for his mom. Imagine the police knocking on her door and she's like, what?
And they're like, we're looking for your son.
In relation to a murder. Yeah. I mean, this poor woman.
And they seem like they tried. Yeah. really hard to get him the help he needed.
It's not like he was ignored or neglected help wise.
No. They gave it their best shot to help him out.
Yeah, they send him to multiple programs, like you said.
So I really feel for his parents. When they looked up his information at the DMV, it confirmed that he was driving a 1983 Chevy Chevette. color gray and it was a two-door sedan okay now this is what brings us to the witness that they were able to find So this witness described seeing Mark, described him to a tee, at the scene that morning and And they were able to accurately describe him and his car at Sharon Gregory's home when the murder occurred.
Now from the affidavit. Michael J. Rockwell lived across from Sharon Gregory.
Mr. Rockwell told the officers that at 12 noon on this date, He had just begun to watch television when he heard the sound of a car door closing.
The sound came from the driveway to the east of his house.
He looked out his window and observed a dark gray Chevette, possibly two-door, parked facing into the driveway.
The front end of the Chevette was about even with the walk going from the driveway to the front door of the residence.
Mr. Rockwell observed a white male, approximately six feet tall, approximately 180 to 195 pounds with dark hair.
Mr. Rockwell said the hair was a long military cut.
He did not see any facial hair. The man was wearing jean tight pants, a jean jacket, both of stonewashed or acid dyed color.
The man was clean cut, the man had his hands in his pockets, and Rockwell watched him walk to the front door of...
The address, the man was not wearing glasses.
That is describing Mark Branch to a T. Yes.
Between about three and five minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again heard a car door from the direction of the driveway.
He looked out the window again and saw the same person now seated in the chevette.
He heard the engine start and saw the Chevette back out of the driveway and head west.
Approximately 30 to 40 minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again heard a car in the same driveway.
Looking out, he saw Cheryl's car pull in. moments later he saw police cars arrive oh wow so you saw the whole thing go down Can we also talk about the fact that this happened at 12 noon?
12 noon. Like what the fuck? Middle of the day.
This guy's just sitting down to watch TV and he sees that.
Yeah. And he has no idea what's going on.
He had left his, so Mark Branch had left his parents home earlier that morning and was like, bye, going to do some stuff, be back. and that's what he's going... Like, what?
And then just even you describing him, just like, then he pulled out of the driveway and headed west.
Yeah, just... brutally killed this girl, stabbed her in the chest, face, head, and then just backs out of her driveway.
Yeah. And then just leaves for someone to find her.
For her family to find her. That's so wild.
He's a wild individual. In this case, only gets...
Weirder really What's even more stressful than a packed calendar?
Realizing you're out of coffee right before a meeting.
That actually happened to me the other day.
And it's exactly why I stocked up during the Thrive Markets back to school sale.
Even if you're not going back to school, I'm not, it's the perfect time to reset.
Thrive makes it easy to shop for high-quality pantry staples, snacks, vitamins, even skincare. without the errands or the ingredient label deep dives.
I just restocked with aloha protein bar simple mills crackers and my favorite poppy drinks i love them so much Everything is delivered super duper fast, and I saved up to 25% on all of that.
Their filters make shopping by diet or lifestyle a breeze, and their healthy swap tool actually helped me upgrade my usual buys with zero label stress.
I love the lesser evil popcorn. I get my chomp sticks from there.
I love Thrive and you will too. Now's the best time to try Thrive Market.
You'll get up to 25% off select items. and new members get 30% off their first order, plus a free gift.
Who doesn't love that? Go to thrivemarket.com slash morbid to start saving.
The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. Now, after speaking with Mark's mother, they were given permission to search his bedroom.
It's when they went into his bedroom that the case gets kind of ridiculous.
So they saw a ton of horror paraphernalia. especially Friday the 13th and Jason stuff.
He had like action figures, all that stuff.
Now, he had tons of horror magazines, like replica weapons from the horror movies, the whole gamut.
But obviously... this is not the reason he did this.
But at the time, the police went in there and were like, This is why like he was watching horror movies and it's like, no, he's just disturbed.
Yeah. Now, as soon as this was happening, former friends of his said they were worried he was just on the run believing he was actually Jason Voorhees. which is trying to be him.
No. And that's like mental illness. That's what I was going to say, right?
Like he does have a mental illness. He does.
It seems to me like he was just trying. I think he wanted to kill someone.
It was very clear he did. He said it to people his entire life.
On multiple occasions. And he just found a persona that seemed to fit him well.
And that's what he did. I don't think it has...
You can't correlate the horror movie with what he did.
I think he wanted to do it. Jason just gave him an identity to do it.
That's all. Now, people started coming forward saying that in high school, Mark had written obsessive and threatening letters to girls, literally describing how he would murder them. what and nobody that people are just like hey by the way this happened yeah they're like that was weird he also pulled a knife on a girl in school as well And another girl from high school said he left school after threatening her and then putting a scalpel through a photo of her and leaving it in her locker.
And he was pulled out of school. what the yeah so i mean where did this kid get a scalpel this is an extremely violent kid Yeah, clearly.
This is sad. Like, this is horrible. Because clearly it seems like this could have been stopped.
Like he could have been put somewhere where he would have been had help. yeah it's wild for long term but on the flip side of it too not even on the flip side but the other side of it here Like he is just an angry, violent person.
Right. I think like he's emotionally disturbed.
Yeah. I don't know what he was diagnosed with, if anything.
Really? We don't even know because that's never been released.
His parents fought to keep those private.
Private? I just know that this is clearly a violent, angry individual who was talking about doing something forever.
Right. And it's like, but I also am like, what do you do?
I don't know. That's the thing. I feel like there needs to be protocol for something like this.
But there still isn't. I don't know what it would be.
It's like really sad. But also people he went to school with said that he kept files on girls. and would call them at night and use the information in the files to scare them.
Like he would keep like detailed information.
And then call them at night and be like, let me just read things to you.
Like in Scream. What? Yeah. And Scream wasn't even out yet.
Yeah, that's a lot. Now a former classmate was quoted in a news article confirming these accusations of his behavior growing up. and saying, quote, he's been planning to kill someone ever since he was a kid.
Yeah. So this is not horror movies. This is... he wanted to kill someone.
Right. Now the next morning after the murder, his car was located.
It was abandoned without him in it about 13 miles from Greenfield, Massachusetts.
It was parked right outside of a forest.
And when they searched it, they found blood on the front seat and on the center and front console.
It later matched Sharon Gregory's blood.
So there's your physical evidence connecting him to it.
This is from the affidavit. Detective Peter Skuret from the Greenfield Police Department spoke with Thomas Smith, M.D., who conducted the autopsy of the deceased.
Dr. Smith said upon first impression that the instrument which made the stab wounds in the deceased was likely a single-edged knife with a blade width of approximately one to one and a half inches and a blade length of between four inches and five inches.
Wow. Death resulted from multiple stab wounds numbering about two dozen.
Oh. Two dozen stab wounds. Now, this is where we bring in a man named John Monty.
Okay. Who's John Monty, you ask? I do. You wanna know?
I do. He was a house painter from Quincy, Ked.
Quincy. who discovered that he had psychic abilities.
How? painting houses i'm not really sure uh but damn thing i don't know we're all familiar with how I feel about psychics and police investigations.
Yeah. I'm normally very against it. I think it causes more harm than good.
John's kind of wild. There's times when you're just like, okay john yeah like you might know stuff and then there's other times where you're like john stay out of it And that's why psychics and investigations like this, I think, are just not good.
Because if they're not good 100% of the time, they're not good.
They're doing harm. And it's like when they're telling parents that their kid is alive or dead and it's the other way around, it's like...
Yeah. Nobody needs that. Too messy. We don't need that.
We need real investigation here. And evidence.
We need science. We need like hard... We need eyeballs looking at real things.
There are other times when you go to a psychic.
Absolutely. Go to psychics. Go get your tarot cards read.
That's fucking fun. That's fun. But when it's like life or death here, it's like...
I think it just brings more harm. That's me.
And in this case... It's weird, though, in this case.
Well, I do think it is like a case-by-case situation.
Yeah, which to me makes it... Right. Because if it's not working in all cases, then why are we doing it?
Right. I can see that because you can't really trust it, you know, because people get lucky.
Mm hmm. Now, yeah, so he does have like a pretty good success rate, to be honest, if we're really judging by like, you know... psychics who involve themselves in crimes.
In March, I'm just going to give you a couple of background things on him, just so you can see why he was pulled into this case because the investigators actually pulled him into the case to help.
Oh, wow. Because they were like, That's saying a lot.
We need to find Mark Branch at this point.
Because remember, he wasn't in his car. They don't know where he is now.
So they were kind of desperate. And we'll talk about how crazy the town got.
But they immediately pulled John Monty in and were like, He's local.
He's had some success. Let's see what he has to say.
Well, they're probably at the point where they're like, what the fuck else are we going to And honestly, on this side of the investigation, I get it a little more because we're looking for the killer.
Right. That is a different... But when we're talking about where's a missing child.
Is this child alive? Is this victim alive?
That's when it gets hairy to me. Yeah, absolutely.
When we're talking about whether this kid is alive or whether your loved one is alive or not.
Yeah. What happened to them? Yeah, that's when I hate it. looking for the killer all right bring them in right why not what's the worst that could happen we don't find it and that's like sure i feel like that doesn't hurt people as much So, in March 1981, just to give you a little bit of John Monty. predicted on a taped radio show that President Reagan would be shot by the end of March.
Whoa. But he would survive. He wrote it down, too, to document it, and it was on the radio.
That did happen. He said, There is sadness around President Reagan.
I feel he will be shot in the left side of his body after a speech in Washington.
I feel it will happen by the end of March, but the president will live.
Imagine hearing that as President Reagan. kidding i'd be like i'm not going anywhere i wouldn't give any fucking speeches now in case you didn't know reagan was shot march 30th yeah by John Hinckley Jr., who was released, by the way, and now releases YouTube videos of him singing wild.
Just putting it out there. Like he's on YouTube now.
Didn't know that. He's just like strumming a guitar singing.
No, thank you. There's a lot. But that's another story for another day.
He attempted to assassinate the president because he became obsessed with the movie Taxi Driver. and in turn was obsessed with Jodie Foster in that movie.
He thought that You know, his thought process was that if he killed the president, Jody would fall in love with him.
Seems legit. It didn't work. Again, movies.
Don't do this. Real weird. But he was shot at the Washington Hilton Hotel by Hinckley when he fired six shots at him and the men around him.
He was shot in the left lung. That's crazy.
John H. Monti said the left side of his body.
Yeah, he did. And it just missed his heart, so he survived.
His Secret Service agent, Timothy McCarthy, was shot as well, but survived, and a DC police officer was shot, but...
And I think the D.C. police officer was Thomas Dillahanty.
Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, was shot in the head.
The bullet literally got him in the eye and he was permanently affected with brain damage.
He had partial paralysis. speech and memory issues as a result, like really sad.
From that, he became a huge advocate for stricter gun laws and requirements for background checks for weapons, Congress actually passed the Brady Bill in 1993 from this whole thing.
Just had to give you a little quick background.
Yeah, just a little history lesson. But yeah, so John Monty was right.
He even predicted the left side of his body, which is like crazy.
Mm-hmm. Then in 1995, John Monty also predicted that there would be a weapon found buried on O.J.
Simpson's property. Whoa! Well, in 2016, retired Los Angeles Police Department cop George Maycott came forward and was like, oh yeah, I found this in 1998.
He had found a buried knife on OJ Simpson's property in 1998.
Oy vey. And he said he was given the knife by a construction crew who was like digging up the, um, Simpson's yard for like renovation and like raising the property basically.
And he actually tried to give it over to the LAPD and they were like, nah.
We don't want it. We don't care. Like literally, we're like, no.
Yeah, shocking. No, thank you. We're so shocked.
So he kept it for like 13 years. Jesus. So he was bringing it forward again to have it looked at.
And it was deterred. It was determined that there was no DNA to suggest it was the murder weapon of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
Um, but still buried in the backyard. Weird that he knew a weapon was buried in OJ's backyard.
Yeah. Yeah. but you can also you know there's so many things you can say about this but he's also been dead wrong on a ton of things okay and led grieving families on wild goose chases to find their missing children, only to find nothing. this is again why I can't get behind this shit.
Yeah. Like I can get behind it when we're looking for the killer.
Can't get behind it when we're looking for the victim.
I see that. And I'm not always saying it's maliciously done.
No, of course not. On their parts, I'm sure a lot of them like thinks that they are going to help and they're trying to.
Well, and they've had success in the past, so I'm sure it then makes it in the future easier to believe your gut instinct.
Some of them are malicious and just bad people.
That's just the way of it. That's just life.
But I think some of them aren't malicious or bad, but, you know, rarely does it bring true comfort to anyone.
The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. the town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts Spotify or the Wondery app.
So John was called in for this case as well, and we know his background now.
So, you know, he was local at the time. A lot of people knew him.
He was like kind of rising the ranks in the psychic community.
So they gave Monty a photo of Sharon and they didn't tell him anything else.
And this had just happened. There was news about some of it, but I don't think he was given any background information.
And he immediately said he felt violence when he looked at her photo, which I think is a pretty safe bet when you're being handed a photo of a girl by a homicide detective. that's just me yeah that's just me yeah uh he also said he kept hearing the name jason Oh, that's fucking weird.
And he said it was echoing in his mind. He couldn't stop thinking of the name Jason.
That's creepy. Then he said he was getting flashes of images in his mind, some brutal, some confusing, but he said he knew where we had to go.
He's like, I'm going to take you where you have to go.
So he brings investigators near this area where the car was found abandoned.
And he walks them into the forest. They walked into the forest and came across an abandoned slaughterhouse.
An investigator said they didn't even know that that was there.
Oh, good. Like it was just like sitting in the middle of the forest.
That's fucking terrifying. Yeah, they go inside.
It reminds me of like Texas Chainsmokers.
It does. So they go inside, of course. Because this has turned into a legitimate horror movie and that's what you do in a horror movie.
You go into the abandoned slaughterhouse.
Obvi. In the middle of the woods. Correct.
Inside the slaughterhouse, they found drawings on the walls.
And these drawings were a man in a fucking mask murdering a woman on a set of stairs. literally a recreation of the Sharon Gregory murder scene.
And under the picture, it said, a death of intention.
There was also Jason Lives and Crystal Lake spray painted on the walls.
That's really fucking lame. Which it's like, okay.
Yeah. Now, if we're going to talk about like if we're going to say that he was hanging out in that abandoned slaughterhouse at any point and that What if he was there when they were searching the car?
Exactly. Just sitting in that... That could be it, for sure.
But if you look at like... video where they videoed inside the slaughterhouse a little bit.
You can see that there's a lot of spray paint on the walls.
Some of them are like Freddy lives, you know, like lots of horror movie shit. it could just be that that was there yeah it is weird the picture is strange for sure definitely strange But I don't know.
I don't think it totally... I mean, it's strange.
I'll say that for sure. And it's like...
Did John know that that was there? Had he been there before?
I don't know. You gotta question it. Yeah, you don't know.
It's strange, though. I'll give it to them.
It seems like a teenage hangout. Exactly.
I'll give it to them that you have to like raise an eyebrow a little bit, but I'm trying to err on the side of logic here.
But you're also like the best devil's advocate.
I know. It's like where you sit permanently.
It is. It's where I sit. Now, I know you're thinking, okay, look in the forest now.
Correct. gotta be in the forest that is exactly what I was thinking well they did they searched good good good But it was called off because nothing was found.
And they declared it to be clean. Which I was like, you declared the entire forest clean of him?
Like, I don't know. How big was the forest.
Now aside from the actual like caveman drawings in the abandoned slaughterhouse in the woods where Mark Branch... his car was found that's everything else was clean apparently there's no sign that he was anywhere Now, everyone in this town, in Greenfield, was Obviously.
The entire town was on edge. Well, especially because his friends were saying, like, we don't even know if he thinks he's Jason.
Yeah, there was a brutal killer on the loose and everyone was sure they knew who it was.
So now they're all just waiting for Mark Branch to appear.
And they're like, is he going to kill again?
I don't know. And then this is right around Halloween.
That really is fucking terrifying. And I'm sure they leaned into it. well the police chief said quote there's fear and frenzy going on all over this town People kept thinking they saw him.
There were sightings of him everywhere, but they were not, you know, as we'll find out later, they were not confirmed.
People were just so on edge that they were seeing their real life boogeyman everywhere.
Yeah. You know, an article from the Boston Globe said, quote, Unconfirmed sightings of Branch were reported by dozens of frightened people yesterday. prompting city officials to warn residents to keep doors and windows locked.
So they were on like lockdown. People as far as Albany, New York, Cape Cod, New Hampshire, they all reported sightings of him.
Wow. So the whole like... All of New England was just on edge, freaking out.
It makes sense. In the same article, a resident named Kathy said, quote, my children aren't sleeping well and neither am I.
And she said her 12-year-old son said he had trouble falling asleep at night. quote, just thinking about how violent this guy on the loose is.
Everybody's scared. The article goes on to explain the Halloween trick-or-treating time changed for the town.
And that they were literally like they were going to change when you could trick or treat.
I bet. To when it was laid out. They were literally thinking this kid was going to massacre people on Halloween.
A resident said, quote, that's what they're afraid of, that he's following the movie right along. yeah i mean yeah i would be scared too i would think that and so this is wild like we said halloween was coming up and mark's nowhere to be found at this point As far as everyone was concerned, he was on the loose somewhere and he was gonna strike again.
Yeah. So they declared that trick-or-treating had to be done only in the daylight hours in Greenfields, Massachusetts.
They actually suggested kids not go trick-or-treating at all, but that was the only way they could do it if they chose to.
And as a result, most parents kept their kids home.
I would have kept my kids home. I totally get that.
No fucking way would I. Yeah, I would just be like, we're having a Halloween party at home.
They even suggested people turn off their porch lights to discourage any after dark wandering or trick-or-treating.
Oh my god. So the whole town was dark. Imagine the feeling of that.
Oh my... That's scary as hell. Yeah. And so the whole town's dark.
Yeah. In the entire night, police patrolled all the tree lines and through the streets.
This is literally Friday the 13th. It must have been so scary.
In the affidavit, there seems to be a reason for them to worry that Halloween would be a shitty time.
So it says, quote, Cheryl had a conversation with Mark who bragged about having 12 different masks that he had sent away for. and that last Halloween he had dressed up as Jason, and somewhere around the Greenfield Middle School,
He had jumped out of the bushes with a knife and chased a girl.
The girl ran and he said he fell. He told Cheryl that if he had not fallen, he would have stabbed her.
He told Cheryl that because he was unsuccessful, he planned on trying the same thing this coming Halloween, 1988.
What?! ! The fuck? Yep. And like, what? Yeah.
Now, the town had a lot of festivities that went on annually during Halloween because like New England's like all about... Fuck, yeah.
Like these small towns are all like... let's halloween like harvest let's go harvest the bestest now there was a rag shag parade which I looked it up, it still happens in Greenfield, which is adorable.
Rag shag. where it's like a parade where all the kids dress up in their costumes.
Oh, that's cute. And there's candy, and it's like a big festival.
Yeah I love that. It was called off because it was considered too risky.
Yeah I don't blame them. They were also scared that people may actually be dressing up as Jason for Halloween.
Right. since it was a popular movie at the time.
And they could possibly scare the shit out of everyone or get their asses kicked by Vigilante.
Yes. They were like, this is a real problem.
This is bad all around. And a local theater was planning to do like a whole showing of Halloween 4. the return of Michael Myers for spooky season.
And it was just coming out. So it was like a big deal.
They canceled the showing for fear that it was going to inspire more.
Dude, fuck Mark Branch. He really fucked with everyone's spooky season.
Yeah, I'd be pissed. Like, what the fuck?
Now, this was right in that time when people were like, rock music and horror movies are making killers.
So it makes sense that everybody's just like that.
I get why like we they had to cancel like Halloween stuff because you got to be safe.
But it just sucks like the movies get canceled.
Yeah, it does stink. Escapism is a thing.
So the town was a mess. They had full-time social workers and clinical psychologists hired to help members of the community deal with the fact that this man they all knew was out there and had killed a woman.
Yeah. And a young girl. And a woman that they all knew and loved.
Like they, she was part of their community.
Yeah. Now, his 19th birthday passed while he was missing, and the town was ready. they were like he might come back for like a birthday massacre like we don't know is he gonna come commemorate the occasion who knows Like, they're living in fear.
And he was brazen and theatrical as fuck.
So they were like, maybe this is going to be his thing.
I'm wondering how he's getting around. Yeah.
Well, we'll find out. Now, he didn't show up.
One of Branch's friends, the one who regularly hung out with him and had been speaking to the media a lot, said that he was doing so because he was genuinely scared for Branch's life now.
He said he saw a couple of hunters in recent weeks at that point and he had asked them because it was like hunting season.
And he had asked them, are you hunting bucks or does?
Because, you know, like rural, you know, we're just like, what you doing?
Yeah. And they responded, we're going after branches.
Which like clever, but fucked. Clever, but fucked.
But real fucked. Now, John Monty comes back again, and he tells police...
He knows Mark Branch has hung himself from a tree in the forest and he said, you got to go look for them again.
And they're like, huh, okay. Now Buckland, Massachusetts, which is where, again, outside of where his car had been found.
November 29th, 1988. This is like a month later.
Yeah. A hunter named Kevin Purrington was out following some deer.
As he stalked through the heavily wooded area, he came across a partially decomposed body hanging from a tree.
The man was hanging by his own boot laces and belt, and he was wearing jeans and combat boots.
Oh, wow. This body was not far from that abandoned slaughterhouse and less than a mile from his abandoned car.
Huh. Shocking. He was so close to the slaughterhouse and his car. that law enforcement said if they had just kept moving like 200 yards, they would have run right into him.
Yeah, obviously. And immediately authorities could tell it was Mark Branch by the clothing he was wearing.
Right. Witnesses who saw Branch the day of the murder described his clothing to law enforcement.
DNA proved it to be Mark Branch's body. And his cause of death was described as intentional like hanging.
Okay. So because people immediately were like, did someone do that?
Yeah, the medical examiner said he had likely hung himself the same day he had killed Sharon Gregory.
So they marked that fucking forest all clear.
And then they were like. And he had been hanging there since October 24th.
You wouldn't have even had to cancel anything.
Yep. But the death was only kind of confirmed to be a suicide. because it's really rife for urban legend and lore to begin to swirl around what happened because people were like, Hmm.
Like, did someone find him and like do that to him?
Like, are we sure that he died on that day?
Because again, they're estimating. Yeah, exactly.
It's been a month. Time of death is a very variable thing.
Especially when he's partially decomposed.
Exactly. Of course, there was a satanic cult reference in this whole thing because... I was waiting for it.
It was the time and Satan always makes an appearance for humans. being fuck ups.
It's also Halloween. Exactly. So people were like, oh, was Sharon and Mark and the satanic cult together?
No. 100% not true. But they, of course, were talking about it.
And even now, people now, today, people will say that he quote, had help with his death.
People think that maybe a mob of vigilantes hanged him whatever night they found him.
And after all, the town had been gripped in fear and had basically had to cancel all of Halloween because of his fucking nonsense.
And it doesn't seem totally out of the realm of possibility.
It doesn't, but I wonder, did anybody say like, oh, like I was part of that mob?
Because I can't imagine anybody would stay quiet.
Honey, you are right on my wavelength, because the next thing I said was, but someone would have spilled by now, I feel like.
Especially if like how united this town became in this.
And if it was like your grandfather or something and he's dead now.
He would tell you that story. He was part of that.
He would definitely tell someone. Right.
I love that you were just like, boom. I was like, you were right here.
You were right on my way of playing. Yeah.
And no one is as, you know, it just doesn't make, someone would crack.
Because no one is as good as the parents in Nightmare on Elm Street in keeping secrets like that.
There's a full circle. No one's that good.
No, and especially when it came to, like, somebody like this, like...
And unfortunately, people would want to take credit for that.
Of course. Somebody would. Somebody would end up just telling it out of like guilt or just like...
Here's an anecdote at a party. Like, let me tell you something.
Here is my anecdote of the time I captured a sadistic killer.
Exactly. So What we know is that he was hung either by his own hand or someone else.
I think it was him. Yeah. We don't know what we think it was the same day, but it could have been the same week potentially because it was a month out.
It was cold, so that helps preserve, but it can also help fuck up. up a time of death right because like refrigeration is the same kind of thing with that but we do know that he is dead right He was dead for quite some time.
They did not need to cancel Halloween. That's so angering.
So that whole thing was done while he was just hanging in the woods that they had already looked in.
Wow. I already looked in. That must have been like such a bad feeling as an investigator.
Well, that's a real bad look on the police department.
Yeah, I'd be like. When they had to come out and be like... He was there all along.
So yeah, he was a mile from his abandoned car in the woods that we already looked at.
Sorry about no trick or treating everybody. because not only that it's like his car was right there and then a mile away you know he's in the woods When a mile away was that slaughterhouse that you also didn't know about.
Exactly. And then like, I feel like that was probably just like a fucking triangle in the woods of things leading to Mark Branch.
Yeah. They didn't do a great job. That's really upsetting.
I would move out of that town. And also, just as like a last side note that's not to do with him, but...
They discovered the same week that they or excuse me, they discovered in that same span of time that they discovered Mark Branch hanging from that tree, they found a helicopter that had crashed that week the week before over southwest Massachusetts.
They found a helicopter crash in that woods. near him and apparently at a crash people knew but they couldn't find where it crashed And it was in the same patch of woods.
So I'm like, is this just like a void of despair in these woods that just like...
Are these some of the fucking haunted woods?
Should we cover these? Did they go in that forest and actually not see these things?
And we're just like, well, bye. That's weird.
Like that forest that you just keep getting lost in over and over again.
Yeah, so like a week before this, a helicopter had crashed. in those woods right near where he was.
And they found it in the same trip. Those woods must be like real scary these days.
I would not go near those. That's what I'm thinking.
That's a scary. That's. I feel like it must be one of those things where you walk in and this force field is like womp.
Like it just keeps you out of there. Yeah.
I don't know. It's in Buckland. That's bizarre.
I've never heard of Buckland either. I know Massachusetts is full of like random places that you're like, I don't even know that that exists and I live in this state.
But that is the very strange. And very like pulled from a million different resources.
Even still, I have so many questions. I feel like we're always going to have questions about this case.
It's just one of those things that I don't think we'll ever have all the answers to.
Poor Sharon. But, I mean, his parents fought to... Like, a little bit after this happened... his parents fought to have those psychiatric records, uh, kept out of the public.
They didn't want them in the media, which I'm interested to know what that's all about.
Because I'm like, that might... Wouldn't that help a little?
I think it would answer a lot of questions at least.
And I'm like, maybe it would hurt. But at the same time, you have to think the 80s was, I mean, even still like mental health is just now becoming talked about.
Of course. They probably just didn't want to be associated with it and drug through the press.
And again, I truly feel like his parents did everything they could.
Absolutely. I really do. They did. And I feel like his friends, you can't even... I'm like...
Also, they're 18. They're high school kids, and they're not taking them seriously.
No. hindsight is 20-20. I don't know. I mean, his behavior at school was wild.
That's the only thing that I'm like, no one was, I mean, again, I don't know.
But then again, he went to so many. different schools that like his friends might not have even known about the things that happened at a previous school yeah so it's It's a very strange, very sad situation.
It sounds like Sharon. And her sister were really close and like her family was really close.
And she sounds like a really cool, artistic chick. who was like a psychology major, like doing the damn thing. being nice to people like just it's sad it's really just sad all around in her own home like it's just really sad it's fucked So that is the what is called the Friday the 13th murder.
Wow. Thank you. So it's a wild one. Yeah.
Well, as always, we hope you keep listening.
And we hope you keep it weird. Weird. I don't think I have to tell you not to keep it this weird.
Don't keep it that weird. Watch horror movies and then turn it off and go live your life.
Yeah. Thank you and good night. Bye. Thank you.
If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
