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.
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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid.
It's morbid. It is. It's morbid in the afternoon.
It's always gonna be. Always has been. Yeah.
I was trying to come up with the Wilfred. ever be that bitch thing but I think I've been saying that a lot lately and it just didn't enter my brain.
It's okay. We didn't get coffee today. We did not.
We're in the afternoon right now, which is like a weird time to record.
We usually don't record in like the early afternoon.
No, it's usually like in the actual morning when we've each had a hot coffee. and then we go get our ice together.
And we didn't go get our ice together today.
We did not. And that's how our morning went, guys.
Thrown the day off. But you know what? We're feeling good.
This week, because we didn't want to give you guys a lag when we were transitioning over to the Wondery platform.
So we ended up doing, like, it got, like, so confusing for us which episodes were coming out when.
I think we recorded, like... four episodes the first week.
And then I think last week we did like six.
Yeah, it was like we like overshot it, which I guess is good.
Yeah. But it was like so chaotic in both of us. were so stressed out.
Oh, my God. But it it happened like we were able to get them out, which is great because we just like our biggest thing was we told you you weren't getting a lag between the weeks and we did not want to like fuck that up So we feel good that we did not.
Hopefully you guys like felt like everything was good with that.
And yeah, We feel good today. We do. We're like, we're on a schedule now.
That's the thing. It feels good. thrive on a schedule but i never realize that until i'm on a schedule and i can look back at chaotic ash and be like girl just get you a schedule what are you doing oh my gosh come over here what are you doing over there come come sit down and schedule things and that's where we are right now I love a schedule and a deadline but it has we've just been a we've just We've been a machine of chaos for like four years, so it's really good.
That we're here and we're on a schedule.
It feels good. It's going to stay that way.
So hopefully it makes all of your lives easier, too, because you just know... when to expect and what to expect and that's all anybody can ask for you know Yeah.
We're all just fooling around doing our best.
We're all just fucking stardust. Yeah. So everybody just be fucking nice to each other.
Yeah. Is that so hard? Nothing matters. Oh, what's the TikTok thing that's like, why are you working so hard?
The world is ending. That was stuck in my head all last week.
And I literally was like, you are working so hard and the world is ending.
So what are you doing? And I also had that TikTok sound stuck in my head, which I think was the universe or my brain trying to go into like self-preservation mode.
Because I was really stressed out and all of a sudden my head started doing the TikTok song that was, bitch, you're doing a good job, bitch.
You're doing a good job. And I was like, thank you.
And randomly, you would just sing it out loud.
And I was like, I thought you were saying to me.
And I was like, thank you. you you're singing to each other yeah i think it's like you know everybody everybody's just you know we're all going through it together So I think everybody could stand to be kind to each other.
That's all I'm saying. Like on TikTok, I have like so many favorite creators and every now and then they'll post a video just like. so down in the dumps and like talking about... Yeah, crying and like talking about just the hate that they receive.
And I'm like... I don't, you do not deserve that.
Like, and just nobody deserves that. And it's like, ugh.
It's a lot of really shitty energy, which I guess is only going to affect the people doing it.
That energy is only going to shit all over your karmic bank there.
Take it from Elise Meyers. Don't receive it.
That's my TikTok. Queer. Yeah, I think we mentioned her a lot, but guys, go follow her on TikTok, especially if you need a boost of serotonin, which I think everybody does regularly. now if you take a little dip into like the internet you can everybody needs a burst of serotonin if you just like turn Turn on the news.
Go on the internet. Go outside. You might need some serotonin.
You know what's weird though? I've noticed, like we'll get into it, don't worry about it.
But we're here. Just wanted to share a little like you're all you're doing great.
Everybody's doing great. You're doing the best you can.
Fucking. Don't let anyone tell you you're not doing enough or you're not doing the best that you can.
You're doing fucking great. Okay? Yeah.
And why are you working so hard? The world is ending.
But what I've noticed is people... have been like in real life, like outside in the world.
People are so nice lately. I feel like I've seen a lot of better stuff.
People are great out in the world. Yeah, it's really so, I think like social media and stuff will give everybody kind of like a...
A really toxic view of everything. But like go out and if you like chit chat with people, you'll be like, oh, okay.
Yeah. This is what everything is all right.
Yeah, it gives it's like that it's that really focused shit view that the internet will give you that can make you feel like shit.
But yeah. But, and again, this is like for everybody.
Cause I just keep seeing like other creators and like, and just people in general, like having really personal, bad experiences and i feel bad it just sucks it does yeah just like hug someone you love yeah tell somebody that they're doing a great job tell someone you like their outfit and we're not we're not talking about us tell somebody like anybody that they're doing a great job at the gas station tell a mom or a dad you know what too you always you always laugh at me waving at someone somebody and smiling at them can change their entire fucking day.
I really can. It's true. Or like tip extra if you're able to, like for a service person, you know? happen to have a week where you have the extra and you're like, you know what?
This person did a great job and I'm just going to I'm just going to make their day.
Yeah. So, yeah, that was like a beautiful beginning about like... Here we are. giving back to your community and being kind to one another. not spreading vicious rumors about people.
It dovetails nicely into what you're about to talk about, I think.
Yeah. If any of you know about the Circleville letter writer, you're like, wow, what an intro to that episode because that is the complete opposite of what was going down in ohio that's what we were going for exactly what we were going for a little uh I don't even know.
A little, you know. A little just like, what the fuck ever.
You get it, because you're doing a great job.
You are doing a good job. You are. All right, so let's get into it.
Let's talk about Circleville, Ohio. Let's talk about it. a city in Ohio and it's about 20 miles south of Columbus, Ohio.
You're gonna be stoked about this and I'm sure we'll probably end up going.
One of the things that it's most known for, other than being one of the safest places to live in the U.S., is a pumpkin festival called The Pumpkin Show.
Fuck yeah. It started in 1903. and it still goes on to this day.
Hell yeah, Ohio. Yes. It is amazing. And you said that too soon because get this.
It's said to attract people from all over the place and usually there's more than 300,000 people in attendance.
Wow, that is a pumpkin festival. Yeah, 300,000 people in attendance.
A much bigger number than the actual population, which today is a little more than 14,000.
Oh, wow. Back in the 70s, the population was about 11,000 people.
And the reason that I point to the 70s is because that's when all the events went down that we're about to talk about.
Oh boy. But because I am who I am, we're starting in the middle of all this craziness.
Love that. So we're going to start on the night of August 19th, 1977. a 35-year-old man named Ron Galipsi was found dead not too far from he and his wife's Circleville home.
He had crashed his truck, and because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, He was ejected from the car and most likely died from the impact of his body hitting the large tree that he had crashed into.
Now when the police got to the scene, they discovered that he had a gun tucked under his body. and they were able to determine that one shot had been fired from this gun.
Interesting. Now, when the coroner was able to take a look at Ron's body, he discovered that his blood alcohol content was 0.16%. oh wow that's like almost twice the legal limit so the death was quickly ruled an accidental death due to driving under the influence Now, this was like really shocking to everybody that knew Ron personally because...
Everybody said he was not a big drinker at all.
Like he barely had a drink and they were surprised that he would have had that many drinks first of all, but also that he would have gotten into a car that impaired.
Like they were like, that just doesn't add up and other people simply just did not buy the story that this is how he died they were like no there's no way he was that drunk like hmm This is something fishy here.
A lot of people thought that some kind of cover-up was afoot.
Now the thing is, at the time of the crash, Ron was undergoing what was probably the most stressful time in his entire life.
Oh. And it had all started about a year earlier when his wife Mary received a letter in the mail.
Now, this letter would be the first of many from an anonymous source that seemed to have the inside scoop on Literally everybody living in Circleville.
Jeez. This letter writer just happened to be particularly focused on Mary and her family and a couple other people in town that she was connected to.
But there were plenty of letters sent around to different businesses, higher ups in the school community, the town sheriff, like Everybody was getting letters, but a lot of the letters focused on Mary Galipsi.
So this is like a really shitty lady whistle down.
I can't believe you said that because I was going to put it in here later.
But you know what? I should have put it in here earlier because I should have known you were going to say that also.
Side note, I just found out who Lady Whistledown was last night. what the fuck yeah watch bridgerton but anyways Have you ever seen somebody wearing a colorful pair of flats and you thought to yourself,
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So the first letter that Mary received came sometime around 1976, and it read, Stay away from Massey," who was the superintendent of the schools at the time.
Don't lie when questioned about knowing him.
I know where you live. I've been observing your house and I know you have children.
This is no joke. Please take it serious.
Horrible grammar. That's also really fucked up.
Everyone concerned has been notified and everything will be over soon.
My gosh. Like how creepy is that? That's terrifying.
I know you have kids. I've been watching your house like.
Stay away from the superintendent of schools because I know what's going on.
Now, like I said, other residents in the town were getting the same letters and these letters were saying that Superintendent Gordon Massey was having all sorts of extramarital affairs with married women. or making the bus drivers in the town feel super uncomfortable with his like unwanted advances.
Ew. Yeah, so at first you're like, okay, this letter writer is like... Vigilante.
Vigilante right here, but it gets not great real quick.
Okay. So the letter writer threatened that if their warnings were not heeded, then people were going to be sorry.
They wrote, Failure to comply and you shall suffer.
No one can help. No one can protect you.
Obey, obey. Also, what like over the top, the way they're talking, it's like, oh, okay. like you shall suffer like okay it's so performative we get it it really is Now, the weird thing was that all of the letters were postmarked from Columbus, Ohio, but none of them had any return address, obviously.
But it's like, they're all coming from one place.
Now they also all seem to be written by the same person. because they all shared the same style of writing.
Now for one thing, all of the writing was in this like big block lettering. um and this person really loved to use a colon like all over the damn place for the rest of the letters i'll tell you where the colons are i love a colon They also seem to use incorrect grammar from time to time throughout their writings.
But the investigators weren't sure if this was on purpose, like somebody trying to come off less educated than they were.
Yep. Or if this genuinely was just how this person knew how to write.
Yeah. So who was Mary Gillespie? Who? She had met her husband Ron while they were in high school.
They were high school sweethearts. Adorable.
And obviously their relationship continued well after that.
Um, by the time the letter started, Mary and Ron had been married for quite some time.
They had two daughters together. Interestingly enough, she herself was a school bus driver.
And like I said, throughout the letter writing time period, even though the letter writer knew shit about other people, Mary was the main target.
The letter writer was insistent that she needed to end her affair with the married school superintendent or things were going to get bad.
Now if you thought that the first letter was really creepy, more just kept on coming. one of the second letters read, quote, lady, colon.
This is your last chance to report him, colon.
I know you are a pig and will prove it and shame you out of Ohio, colon.
A pig sneaks around and meets other women's husbands behind their backs, causes families and homes and marriages to suffer. and then it like trails off. what the fuck that's a lot of colons that's a lot of weird colons man you're not introducing any lists You're not conjoining any sentences.
Like you are not hooked on phonics. My dude.
What is going on? Calm down. Now, this time, the letter writer warned that if she didn't tell her husband Ron the truth about her affair, fair, then they were going to do it for her.
So Mary at first tried to keep the letters to herself.
She was like, I don't really want to bring these to Ron's attention because I don't know, maybe they'll stop.
Maybe this person will get bored. And she was adamant, though, through the entire saga. that she and Gordon Massey were not having an affair.
So she probably also was like, why am I going to upset my husband when this isn't even true?
Yeah. Now, eventually though, since they were always lurking around somewhere, the letter writer sent a letter to her husband, Ron. and he informed him, like I said, he was going to about Mary's supposed affair.
Now the letter writer took things a step further this time, though, and told Ron, you should catch them together and kill them both.
That escalated quickly. Real quickly. Jesus.
Yeah. So when Ron brought things to Mary's attention, she, like I said, vehemently denied having any affair She told Ron, she was like, I just thought they were going to go away, but clearly this person is unhinged.
Yeah. Now, she could not have been more off with her assumption that these letters are just gonna go away because not long after Ron got his first letter, another one came addressed to him specifically.
This one said, Galipsi, you had two weeks and done nothing.
Make her admit the truth and inform the school board.
If not, I will broadcast it on CBs, posters, signs, and billboards until the truth comes out also like why why do you care so much here's the thing like invested in other people's business like Right.
Like, what's your problem? Get a hobby. My first thought hearing all of this, I was like, okay, is this his wife?
Well, that's what I would initially think.
You can't find anything about like his wife, like if she was spoken to or anything, interviewed anything.
That's honestly the only person who it would make any sense for anything like this to come from because it's like, Okay, why do you care?
Get out of people's business. Go do something.
But that's the thing. And Mary, like I've said like 25 times, she was the main target, but they were also writing to other people about like, different affairs that other people were having.
So this is just like a crusader of monogamy.
Yeah. It really is. But they were also sending people of morality to be honest.
Oh yeah. because they were sending like business owners things being like your business is corrupt and like fuck you blah blah blah like I'm gonna tell everybody not to shop at your store yeah it's always it's the morality police that are always the worst ones truly So, at this point, the couple obviously is trying to figure out who the fuck is messing with them. and they had also been talking about the letters with some of their close friends and family members.
Now, specifically Ron's sister Karen, her husband paul and paul's sister okay so one night Mary and Ron hosted the trio who knew about what they were dealing with, and these were the only people who knew. and mary dropped a possible suspect's name she said i think this could be david longberry that's what i thought I thought the same thing the entire time.
I was like, it's David Longberry. I just had like a psychic moment and DL was up in my forefront.
Yeah, we all know David Longberry. You know what?
We all do know David Longberry. Do we? I love it.
David Longberry was a fellow bus driver who Mary obviously had met through work.
And when they first started working together, he was super flirty and he asked Mary out on a date and she said...
I'm married. I got kids. No, thanks. But how sweet of you.
Now, she felt like ever since she turned him down, He was acting like super weird toward her, kind of just like pissed off that she hadn't said yes to the date.
How dare her. weird feeling whenever she was around him.
So we do all know David Longberry. Absolutely.
Have you ever declined somebody's date and then like, you know exactly what I'm talking about. about right now of course it's your fault it has nothing to do with them yeah or the fact that you're married with children no Now the letter writer definitely did seem like they were out for some kind of revenge against Mary particularly, so I don't blame her for thinking that it could be this man she turned down.
That night, Mary brings up David's name to everybody.
Everybody at the house decides they should write him a couple of letters of their own just saying, The jig is up.
We know who you are. Demand that we demand that this stops like enough is enough.
Yeah. They send out their own letters. I think they sent out four or five.
The letters actually seem to stop for a couple of weeks.
Huh, yeah. So they definitely thought that they had the right guy.
But unfortunately, at this point, things escalated.
The letters may have stopped momentarily, but now there were random signs popping up all around town.
Oh damn. Now these signs were heavily focused on Superintendent Massey, but they were also making incredibly damning accusations that involved Mary and Ron's 12-year-old daughter.
Yeah. Are you kidding me? No. And I'm going to put a trigger warning in here because just a trigger warning about like, uh... sexual nastiness like this is horrific oh god so The signs were saying that the daughter and the superintendent were involved in a quote-unquote sexual relationship.
Jesus. But if we're talking about a grown ass man and 12 year old here, I for damn sure would not be calling that a sexual relationship.
Instead, call him what he is, write on the sign what's true, that he's a damn pedophile. that's the case and also how fucking dare you name that child seriously how fucking dare you morality my ass oh and it only gets worse you want to name him if that's the truth by all means absolutely what the fuck is wrong with you seriously This case is infuriating.
Now, in addition to the signs, Mary was still getting more letters that threatened her daughter's safety.
One written to her said, it's your daughter's turn to pay for what you've done.
I will come out there and put a bullet in that little girl's head.
I have goosebumps reading that. I was just going to say that just made my heart drop.
And can you imagine being a mother and receiving that letter?
No, I can't and I won't. No, don't imagine that.
Because that is a... But... what can you imagine the kind of monster that has to you have to be to write those words on paper I truly can't even because I hope that I've never met anybody capable of that in my life.
Or even know about anybody. That's horrific.
This is just like the most precious thing ever and it ruins you because obviously we know that Ron has passed away.
While the signs were being posted up around town, he would get up early every single morning and go along the route that they usually popped up on and just like everywhere around town. in hopes to get them all out of the ground before people in the town woke up and started going to work.
Because he was like, my family's name is just being tarnished.
Like, I need to get this out of here. That's horrible. i'm surprised that he didn't die of a heart attack to be honest like i would have lost my mind Now let's go back to where we started this entire thing.
Friday, August 19th, 1977. This is the night that Ron is found dead in his truck with one bullet having been fired from his .22 caliber gun.
So Mary was away in Florida that weekend with Ron's sister Karen.
Now before Ron hopped in his truck that evening, he got a phone call.
So obviously at this point, people are saying this is the letter writer.
Yeah. and we pretty much know for sure.
After Ron got off the phone, he told his daughter, the one who had become the target of all the signs around town, that he was ready to settle this thing once and for all.
Hugged her goodbye, grabbed his gun, hopped in his truck to track down whoever he thought this must have been i'm not sure whether he thought it was still david longberry or not If that's still the guy that he was looking for.
And you know what's frustrating about this is like it was in the 70s.
So it's like, can't trace the phone call.
If it happened now, one, you could trace the phone call, and two, there's cameras everywhere.
Oh yeah. You would catch this fucker in a second.
Exactly. Cause you can't just like be posting shit around.
You're going to get caught on camera. Well, and that's the thing too, like the police were working with like the U.S. police Postal service and all this stuff and they couldn't figure it out.
Yeah. And it's like now this would not be able to really happen.
No, definitely not. It is weird to me even like back then that this could happen because it wasn't that long ago.
No, it really wasn't. The police working with the USPS, you would think that they would be able to.
That's hard, though. The case you just covered, they just like fucking went to the post office.
But that's because it was the only post office.
It literally was. They were like, here's the one post office in the entire county.
Wouldn't you think that you could just stake out post office locations in Columbus, Ohio?
I guess. And like, I don't know, lock up the male face.
Yeah. I don't know. It's difficult. That's a tough one.
It's weird because we're going to get into it later, but some people think that this was covered up in a weird way like there was weird goings-on conspiracy theories yes So who knows who he thinks this is, but he's ready to end it all for this person.
Now, it's important to note here that the letter writer had previously written to Ron that his red and white pickup truck was being watched.
So it's possible that they knew Ron was coming for them if they were sitting there watching it.
But at the same time, they may not have known because who knows where they are.
They just called. And we don't know what was said on the phone call, which is so frustrating.
I want to know. I do too. Now, another important note is that the kids did not seem to think that Ron was drunk when he left the house.
Okay. And, when Sheriff Radcliffe first heard of Ron's accident, he already had a suspect in mind.
That suspect's name has never been released, but they did pass a polygraph The sheriff changed his mind pretty much as soon as they passed that polygraph and said, you know what?
I don't even think foul play was involved here.
It was an accident. Huh. So like immediately upon hearing that Ron was dead, he had somebody in mind.
But then was like, no, no, no, never mind.
They passed a polygraph. No, they passed a polygraph.
That this was just an accident. Yeah, that makes sense. it's like wouldn't you think it was an accident when you first ran out there and it's like if you have someone in mind for that That's a problem that that person is just walking around like living their lives.
And it's like, why would you think they would do something like that?
What kind of person are they? Yeah. Who knows?
That's weird. very weird just like changing your mind so quickly about that it doesn't make any sense to me Now, in the beginning of this whole thing, I told you that a ton of people around town were not so sure that this was an accident.
Now the main question on their minds was, who did Ron fire his gun at?
Because he had fired his gun along that way and he hadn't been driving for very long.
Like, he wasn't very far from his house.
Now, secondly... Why was he so drunk for somebody who barely drank?
That didn't make sense to them. Yeah. I will say I would be craving a stiff drinker for if this was what my family was going through.
Yeah, I get that. But I don't know. It's weird.
And finally, he crashed after going through an intersection that he went through all the time.
Which was weird. They did say that the car was traveling at like a very fast rate.
And if he was angry and upset, I mean... how quickly we know how quickly things can happen.
So I don't know. I feel like certain things could be explained away, but other things are definitely strange.
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Babbel, language for life. Now, after Ron's death, the suspicion that the sheriff was involved in some kind of coverup was only heightened when letters started up again and everyone in town started getting these letters saying that the sheriff was orchestrating a cover up.
Now, this next shit I'm about to tell you, is probably not going to blow your entire mind, but the way in which the two people involved explain the circumstances just might blow your mind.
Okay. Shortly after Ron's death, Mary Galipsi and the superintendent there, Gordon Massey, went public with their relationship.
Oh, the catch though. They maintained that they had not been involved during a relationship, in a relationship. during the time that Mary was with Ron, but instead got together afterwards. okay like do you think that we're dumb or do you think that we're stupid i cannot even I'm over here.
I don't know about that. There's that. Years go by and after Ron's death and these letters don't stop and neither had the signs.
They're all, everything is everywhere all the time.
That is chaos. Pure chaos. And the letter writer sign poster person is getting more and more clever with their mind games.
Now they're posting all kinds of signs along Mary's bus route about her daughter, because remember, she's a bus driver. they know her bus route, which is interesting to me.
Now they're posting them about her daughter, they're posting them about the sheriff and like all the shit he's involved with.
They're saying different stuff about the coroner who ruled the death an accident.
They're saying stuff about the superintendent.
Just... all kinds of gossip posted along mary's route damn so one day february 7th 1983
Mary has had enough of this shit. And she approaches a sign that says something horrible about her young daughter.
I'm not repeating it. You can look it up if you want to, but that's for you to do and not for me to tell you.
I'm good. it's horrific and it was like it was a big sign that said something and then all along like the um like the post where they like stuck it into the ground it had the same lettering and said all kinds of different stuff So this person is unhinged.
Yeah. I mean, we already knew that. But it's like on a galactic level.
And to do this this long, it's like, damn.
I know. So she slams on her brakes, she marches over to the obscene sign and she tears it down.
Now as she's doing so, she realizes that there's some kind of box attached to the back of the sign. and that it's been tied on with some kind of twine.
So she just rips the whole thing down, sign it all, and takes it back to the bus.
The bus was empty. There was no kids in it.
But just imagine if you were on this bus.
You'd be like, what? the fuck little kid me loved this shit I would have been like so ready to soak this to y'all I would have been like on my Harriet the spy type shit oh yeah So she can't get the box open when she's in the bus, so she brings it home.
She brings it home. She's still having trouble because it's sealed with some kind of glue that like is like impossible to get through.
But finally she gets it open. And when she does, inside the box she sees that there's a gun.
And the twine was wrapped around the trigger.
So this was a booby trap. It was supposed to go off.
Holy shit. You know, when you said, like, she took it back home and she was opening it, I was like, girl, don't open that.
Bring that to the police. Yes. Just a note here, if this ever happens to you, don't open anything right now. the police because i was like i don't know what's in there no something's coming out of there something there's no way they're just leaving you something no like no this is gonna be bad This is not a present.
Immediately, she hops in the car, gun-filled box alongside her, and straight to the police station.
Now at the station, the officers are like, yeah, this is some kind of like, intricate but horribly set up booby trap that was... basically supposed to go off as she was pulling the sign down.
The string was kind of maneuvered around the trigger so that If she had pulled it down, it would have gone off.
It was right about her upper chest head area, so she would have been killed.
Holy shit. And he put it on like the most obscene sign.
So he knew it would probably be the one that would make her rip it down.
And it was probably like toward the end of her bus route as well because there was all these signs leading up to it.
So it's just this... like epic build-up oh my god this is horrific just the fact that this is a real story and And that humans are this way, like that's really, woof.
Like I was like researching this a ton and just I kept having to remind myself like this isn't a book or a movie.
No. This is... a real life true crime case like this is one of the craziest ones we've done It reminded me of The Watcher House, but, like, on another level.
So... Yeah, the fact that the gun didn't go off is absolutely miraculous.
Like, can you imagine? Yeah. So another lucky moment came when investigators started examining the .25 caliber handgun.
It was sent away to a forensics lab because although the serial number had been somewhat filed off, The police were pretty confident that whoever had tried to do so had done a shit job and they were going to be able to lift the number.
And they were. Of course. When they did determine the serial number and plugged it into... the gun database.
You know, that database. It came back registered to a man who worked with another man that Mary knew quite well.
Do you have any guesses? Okay, so it must be a man who works with Massey?
There? No. No. The gun was registered to a work friend of one Paul Freshour.
I wouldn't have. Yeah, you never would have guessed that.
I was going to say, I don't know that one.
Okay. I was like, wait, did I miss something?
We know Paul. Mary's former brother-in-law.
He was there the night that everybody was writing those letters.
Oh, yes. Okay. Yes. So I did. So the man who worked with Paul, he said that he sold Paul the gun a while back.
Now, by this point, Paul and Ron's sister Karen, some of the people who knew about the note.
They had gone through a nasty divorce. Karen had allegedly cheated on Paul.
And in the divorce, she lost like everything.
Paul was awarded full custody of the three kids and got to keep the house.
Now, these days, Karen was living in a trailer in Mary's backyard.
When the police questioned Karen, She confirmed what they suspected was true.
It had been Paul all along. What? She told them that the reason why they were divorced, like part of it, was because he had been abusive toward her. and also that the letter writing had taken a toll on their marriage.
Uh, yeah. It would do that. It would. Now remember, her brother died.
Ron is her brother. So she told them that she'd found one letter ripped up in their toilet.
And when she tried to piece it back together again, all she could make out was the name Gallipsi.
Now, once she found that letter, she obviously starts snooping around the house trying to find more, and sure enough, she finds what she's looking for.
The only problem with that, though, was that when the police asked her if she could hand over one of the letters...
She told them that she was not going to be able to because she had gotten rid of them once she found them.
Uh-oh, sus. A little bit. Now, something she stressed to the police was how much Paul's view of Mary had changed once Ron passed away and Mary started dating Superintendent Massey.
Karen said that before Ron had passed, Paul like really idolized this couple. but that once Ron passed away, the view seemed to shatter.
Now, in my opinion, This was Karen's way of emphasizing to the police how things had escalated to this point of wanting to kill Mary.
Yeah. Now when the police went out to talk to Paul, he was fucking shocked, but he was also extremely cooperative.
He explained to them that his gun had actually been stolen in the weeks prior to the attempted murder. and that he had absolutely nothing to do with said attempted murder.
So he let the police search his home and his car and neither search really turned up any kind of anything.
No letter, no damning evidence. But there were some things for Paul that did not look so great.
He had taken off work on February 7th, the same day that Mary found the booby trap.
He said that he had a solid reason for taking the day off.
He was having some work done to his house and he needed to be there for it.
And his neighbors were willing to confirm his alibi.
But that was not the only whammy against Paul.
The box that his gun was found in was a box that he would have had easy access to at his job.
It was this large box used to hold like a shit ton of chalk, but they were often used in his building.
He worked as a quality control supervisor at a brewery in Columbus.
Oh, also meaning he could have been the letter writer because one, his job was like not incredibly demanding.
He could have written the letters at night and then leading right into point two, He could have mailed them out in the morning when he got to work, which would explain why the letters were coming from Columbus in the first place.
One of the final whammies came when he failed a polygraph.
Which on top of everything else, though, it's like, all right, that's a little weird when it's on top of everything else.
Paired with everything else, it's weird.
Yeah, it's a hot dog in a trench coat, but it's still compelling at the end when you put it against all the other things.
I agree. There were people in Circleville who felt a little bit of ease when Paul was arrested, of course.
But other people were downright pissed and they were like, no, no, no, no, no.
The cops have the wrong guy. That's not Paul at all.
He had always thought that his brother-in-law, Ron, had been murdered.
He actually spoke with the sheriff, Sheriff Radcliffe, on multiple occasions, begging him to take a closer look at the case.
Okay. Why would he be urging the sheriff to look into this case if he was the mastermind behind the entire ordeal?
The only thing I'll say about that to be devil's advocate here is if you are the Circleville letter writer, you want attention.
And you are also completely bonkers. Like there is no... hinges anywhere no so i wouldn't shock me that somebody that unhinged in that desperate to be relevant and have attention and to like ruin people's lives at the expense of possibly murdering people.
Mm-hmm. wouldn't really think twice about being like oh i'm just gonna pretend that i'm really invested in this and like beg them to open up the investigation because he probably doesn't give Right.
That's true. He's gone into another galaxy.
It's interesting that you say that though, because a lot of people were like this, like you were just saying, like the circle of a letter writer wants attention.
It doesn't matter at what cost. Paul was not that kind of person.
And they were like, But is this his alter ego?
It could be. I don't know. Some people thought that Karen was involved. and that this was some kind of setup because she was so pissed after the divorce because she had lost literally everything.
That could be it too. Now, before the case even went to trial, a woman came forward to the police with information that seemed to clear Paul's name at least a little bit. was also a bus driver and she had been traveling down Mary Gillespie's route about 20 minutes before Mary would have come along.
This woman said that she saw a sandy-haired man standing in the same spot where the booby trap was found. but that as she was driving by, the man turned away from her as if he was going to use the great outdoors as his own personal restroom. he was gonna be so she didn't get a good look at his face But she did describe the man, in addition to having sandy hair, as a big man. and she also mentioned that he had been standing alongside a yellow alcamino.
Now, neither physical description matched Paul.
He had like super dark hair and he was smaller in stature. but they would describe another man that Karen was connected to.
Her new boyfriend. Oh. Who was a large man with sandy hair.
Also of note, Karen's brother drove a yellow Alcamino.
Circumstantial. but strange nonetheless.
Compelling. Now for some reason, this information was never brought forth at Paul's trial.
Okay, what the fuck? There was an entire police report about this and it was never brought forth in his trial.
Especially the yellow El Camino. like like i feel like that's a that's a pretty i mean i don't know in the 70s maybe yellow el caminos were more prevalent they sound like they would they feel like they would be but i'm like were they that prevalent i don't know well and the fact that it's matching the description of two people in her life like And she has a lot of motivation.
She does. I don't really know... what the motivation would have been for Paul to write these letters. weirdly the way that one of the first ones that you read sounded, I immediately thought it was a woman.
Me too. So that's interesting too. And you know what?
You're a smart gal because an FBI profiler might have the same opinion as you.
Okay, cool. was my first thought because and we'll get into it i think it's a woman personally Who doesn't love to live well, to be perfectly at ease and comfort and in style?
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Now, this case is just so nuts. It's insane.
But once he was placed under arrest, the sheriff wanted Paul to hand over a writing sample, quite obviously.
But this was not your typical like, hey, can I get you to write down a couple of random sentences and we'll just compare the two fucking putifas or whatever.
They were not put up with this. I was like, probably not.
No. Instead, he was handed one of the Circleville letters and asked to copy the letter in its entirety.
So at first I had your face, but at the same time, I then wondered if they were handing him the letter itself. to see if it would elicit any kind of response.
And to maybe see... if it was obvious that he was trying to write differently.
Exactly. Maybe. Maybe there was some kind of underlying motivation here.
I was really proud of myself for seeing why the tactics would happen, I was like, ooh, maybe this is why they're doing it.
Maybe. Cops be doing that. So... Yeah, when he was taken to trial in October of 1983, he only ended up facing time for the attempted murder. like nothing about being the Circleville letter writer because I don't know what charge would that even be?
Like stalking? Yeah, there could be a ton of them.
But I don't know when laws were really not great then.
I don't think stocking laws had been made at the time, actually.
So I don't think that would even be a thing.
Yeah, so he was just facing time for attempted murder, but the judge did allow a ton of letters to be brought in as evidence against him i think the total number was 39 that they let him Now, the prosecution claimed that the writing in the letters, the writing on the booby trap, and Paul's handwriting samples all matched.
The defense argued that Paul was not on trial for writing the letters, And instead, they pointed to the possibility that all of this was a setup.
And obviously they specifically pointed the finger to Karen saying that she would have the most to gain if Paul was behind bars, which is literally just a fact. yeah they weren't wrong but the jury had already made their decision They agreed that Paul was guilty.
And once the verdict was read, he was sentenced to the maximum possible sentence at the time for attempted murder. seven to 25 years whoa you ready for the kicker oh i'm ready paul's in prison Letters don't stop.
The letters didn't stop when he was put in prison, when he was placed on a pen and paper ban. when he was placed on an actual mail ban.
Also, they were like, obviously, like when he was allowed to read letters and write them.
They were looking at all of this and they didn't find anything.
He was placed in solitary confinement at one point because the letters wouldn't stop.
And even after multiple searches of his cell to see if somehow he was smuggling in pen and paper, No, he wasn't.
And the letters continued. So he's just a completely innocent man in jail.
Maybe. Whoa. Paul actually got a letter himself while he was in prison, which read, Now when are you going to believe me you aren't getting out of there?
I told you two years ago when we set him up. they stay set up.
So now this person is trying to make it seem like they're working together.
But the belief the entire time was that one person was responsible for these letters. all the handwriting was the same on the signs, on the letters, like, everybody just believed that this was one person.
But now this person just sees that they've got a momentous amount of power right now.
100%. So they're like, now i can make it look like he had something to do with it anyway exactly now eventually the warden of the prison himself wrote a letter to Paul's ex-wife Karen saying, It was entirely impossible for Paul to be writing these letters.
There was no fucking way he was the one writing letters.
Damn. were continuing to be sent out. And the letters that were being sent out were still postmarked from Columbus, Ohio. and Paul was being held at a correctional facility in Lima, Ohio or Lima, I didn't look that up. which was about an hour and a half away from Columbus.
That I did look up. Oh, damn. So it doesn't really make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense. I can't think of any way that this would have happened.
Although... I forget where I read this, but somebody pointed out, I'm going to find it later.
Somebody pointed out that maybe he could have written a batch of letters like knowing that he was going to prison. and then was working with somebody and had those letters sent out or had them set up to be mailed out somehow.
But then it's like, why would he implicate himself?
Yeah. If he was trying to make it look like he didn't.
Yeah. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it was just a point worth noting.
Interesting. For sure. So ultimately, even though it became pretty clear to most people that it was like full-blown impossible that Paul was sending these letters, He still served 10 years for the attempted murder, but he was released on parole in 1994.
By that point, it had been 20 years since the letter writer had stepped on the scene.
20 years. Now, right before Paul was released from prison, Unsolved Mysteries decided that they wanted to air a special about the case they actually reached out to some of the people involved and just like different people in the town. see if they wanted to be part of the episode.
Now Paul was one of those people, and he agreed to be interviewed for the segment, probably in an attempt to clear his name on like a more widespread level.
But right before the Unsolved Mysteries crew was supposed to come down and film, they received a letter from the letter writer, urging them not to come to Circleville.
The letter read, forget Circleville, Ohio, do nothing to hurt Sheriff Radcliffe.
If you come to Ohio, you El Sickos will pay.
What? Which I was like, why all of a sudden are you saying like El Sickos?
Like that's weird. What? Now, the Unsolved Mysteries crew, they were like, fuck that.
We're not going to let this stop us. This is a great story.
We're coming out. I'm like, you're an idiot.
Yeah. So an interesting aside to that story though, is that there was this family friend of Paul's, somebody named Pam Stanton.
And she was also friends with like Karen, like family friends with Paul and Karen when they were married.
Yeah. So Pam was interviewed for a 48 hours episode because they did like a huge deep dive into this case.
Great episode. You should watch it. But Pam said that when Karen found out Unsolved Mystery was going to be coming to town, she was pissed about it.
And she actually called Pam and told Pam that she should not participate.
Really? And Pam also claimed that Karen sat across the street from where they were conducting the entire filming process and watched as people involved in the case went in and out of the building.
She allegedly even took pictures of these people coming and going so that she could keep track of who had participated. what now that's just one person's claim but that's a pretty hefty claim damn that is a hefty claim Now, another strange theory connecting Karen to some kind of setup against Paul was his missing gun.
Yeah. Paul had allegedly told a couple of friends that he believed his own son Mark had stolen his gun.
Bless you. Sorry, I sneezed. And they thought perhaps that was how Karen had got her hands on it to set him up.
Because when his parents got a divorce, Mark seemed to side with Karen.
But people around town said he really didn't have a choice in the matter if he was Karen. and son that was that okay Now, and that's the thing that family friend Pam said he was either Karen's son or he was Paul's son as far as Karen was concerned.
Oh, that's so fucked up. Now, a lot of people felt like Mark's death in 2002 gave credence to this theory. because he unfortunately committed suicide.
His body was found in the Scioto River in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Now, his mother pointed out that he had struggled for a long time with depression and obviously mental illness.
And obviously that was just the result of his struggles that he had gone through.
But of course, the gossip throughout the town wondered if that guilt was wrapped up somewhere in that depression.
And that's why this happened. Oh, wow. But nobody obviously knows for sure.
Now, as soon as Paul was released from prison, the letter stopped.
Huh. Isn't that strange? That is strange.
Weird. He maintained for the rest of his life that he had nothing to do with the scandal or the attempted murder. and he went to the grave believing that Ron Gillespie was killed.
He himself passed away in June of 2012. Okay, but like I told you, in 2021, 48 Hours took a look at the case and they decided to do a little investigating themselves.
They talked to a former FBI profiler, a woman named Mary Ellen O'Toole, who's also a redhead, so she's really fucking cool.
Hell yeah. Hot shit. Hot shit. After reading through the letters, it was Mary Ellen's belief that this letter writer was not highly educated, which points away from Paul because he had a master's degree and a couple other degrees as well.
She also thought that it was possible that the letter writer was a woman who was trying to pose as a man, by saying things in other letters, like there were these ones written specifically to Superintendent Massey, telling him, quote, stay away from my girls.
There were other ones where he would be like, stop flirting with my girl, stop making my girls uncomfortable.
But then it's like, that could be, that's pretty, like I would say that, like stay away from my girls.
Yeah, of course. They're my girls. Yeah.
You know what I mean? So that can easily be a woman for sure.
Yeah. And that's what she thought. Yeah.
So she also thought that it was possible that the booby trap was actually some kind of setup or was at least set up by somebody other than the letter writer because she thought it was unlikely that the letter writer would quote risk exposure like that okay because this was set up it seemed to be set up like in the middle of the day Yeah.
You know, like it was along the bus route that she had already gone down that morning and she didn't see it there.
And then it was there on her way back. Yeah, they would have to stand there and set that up.
Exactly. And why would they risk exposure?
But then I guess you could say the same thing about the signs that were posted around town.
But maybe it was like the middle of the night.
I don't know. It's wild to me that no one staked anywhere out. wild this person absolutely wild that they didn't like band together You would think so.
Like, you would think they would have, like, I don't know.
I feel like you should have a town meeting and be like, okay.
Yeah, like what are we going to do about this?
Who's taking what shift? Who's taking what road?
This fucker isn't going to be able to plant anything without us seeing it.
That's what you would think. Like I think they need like a. A tailor.
They need a tailor. unfortunately they need a Taylor from Gilmore Girls to like round up Taylor Dosey Dosey I always forget his last name They need him to round them up in the town hall meeting.
They do. Tell them what's what. Exactly.
That's the thing about this case is you're just like, But how did they get away with this for 20 years?
That's what's wild to me. Into the 90s? I mean, we started, like, doing some shit in the 90s, you know?
Yeah. Well, it's just as simple as, like, you gotta organize. a bit and be like here what certain people are going to say take certain routes certain times and we're gonna always have eyes on this place but now you would just set up a camera now you would totally set up a camera but Honestly, that should have been what the sheriff was doing.
Well, that's the thing. This should have been highly organized.
Exactly. So strange that he didn't. It's very strange.
And I might have a reason for that. Okay.
Honestly, a reason against that. Every reason that I find in this case, I'm like, that works for and against.
That's usually the case with these. That's the thing.
It's like a double-edged sword. It's so frustrating.
It really is. So Mary Ellen thought one thing.
On the contrary, 48 hours also spoke with a woman named Beverly East. who is a handwriting expert and a court qualified expert witness and a bad bitch.
They told her nothing of the case and they just provided her with some of the Circleville letters and then some letters that Paul had written himself. she did find that there were over 100 writing quirks of Paul's. that matched the letter writer oh and when you see them it is pretty compelling Two pointed out specifically were the way that he wrote the number three.
He writes it almost with a little tail like this.
And she was like, it's like he can't decide if it's a three or a two.
Yeah. But it's always. And then also the way that he wrote the letter G, it was like he was writing a six.
Oh, okay. That was in his personal letters and in all of the letter writer's letters.
There were patterns in the Circleville letters though that did not match Paul's writing.
But overall, Beverly said that she was confident saying he was the letter writer.
Wow, that's interesting. What else is interesting is that during their special 48 hours investigation, They also learned that Paul's fingerprints had been found on 12 of the letters.
What? But the thing is that there were hundreds, if not thousands of these letters that went out.
Why would his fingerprints only be on 12 of them?
Maybe he was just careless with those. Maybe.
Perhaps. Maybe. Maybe he wore gloves with the other ones or maybe...
He was handed one of them, remember. That's true.
I don't know how this works. Could they lift fingerprints and put them on somewhere else?
Can you do that? I'm not sure how that would work on like paper.
I don't either. Yeah. Some people thought maybe another setup.
Now, I had mentioned earlier in the episode that people wondered if the sheriff, Dwight Radcliffe, was involved in a cover-up.
People point to the fact that he was trying to be elected president of the National Sheriffs Association. and that obviously it would not look great for him if there was some kind of psychopath letter writer attempted murderer on the loose.
And that's why... certain information given in the case never made it to Paul's trial, and why they were so quick to find him guilty, even though pretty much all of the evidence in the case was purely circumstantial.
Yeah. But at the same time, why would you not then just go find the actual letter writer when you realize that this is not ending?
Yeah. It's weird. It doesn't make sense.
Now this This is really horrific and I will give you a trigger warning for this.
It's sexual abuse and sexual abuse against minors.
He was not the only official who was confirmed to have a reason for covering this entire thing up. the coroner dr carol who ruled ron's death a suicide had been accused by the letter writer of being a pedophile yeah Oh, Jesus.
That turned out to be true. Oh, no. with 12 counts of gross immorality, sex crimes, corruption of a minor, pornography, obscenity, and indecent exposure in 1993.
Wow, what a disgusting fucking monster. Yeah, so it would not be hard to believe that Ron Galipsi did not, like, he may not have even been intoxicated.
He could have just faked that entire report.
Holy shit. shit. Finally, one of the original suspects, David Longberry, the driver who Mary thought had a about not wanting to go on a date, la la la.
Trigger warning. He raped an 11 year old girl in 1999 and has been on the run ever since.
What the fuck? Has not been found. Are you kidding me?
I am not kidding you. Oh my god. So this is the thing, like a bunch of the key characters in this case are fucked up.
Very bad people. Very bad people. And these are people with high positions.
I mean, David Longberry was above that. But in a position of power and in a position where he had easy access to children.
I was just going to say in a position to be in charge of children.
Right. Holy shit. So people are still divided to this day whether or not Paul was actual letter writer and what the fuck went down in Circleville, Ohio.
But pretty much all of the people in this case have passed away by this point. and they've never truly uncovered the identity like there's still talk about it damn So I guess all we can hope for is some kind of deathbed confession from somebody who hasn't died yet.
That's all you can really hope for, because at this point, you're like, I imagine that the letter writer is dead if they stopped.
I would think so. I mean, I feel like death would be the only thing to stop.
I mean, they were like a runaway train there.
They really were stopped by anything. So what do you think?
Do you think that the booby trap was the letter writer?
I don't. That's hard. I lean more toward the theory that it was a setup.
I don't know who set him up, but I lean more toward the theory that it's a setup.
Honestly, this one is really hard for me.
What do you think about Paul? That's the thing.
This person is so unhinged that's writing these letters and posting these signs that...
Because at first I was going to be like, wow, that booby trap is a real escalation.
Right. Of what's going on. But then I'm also like... you really got to be tapped to be doing this.
Oh, absolutely. Is that truly... so much of an escalation with what they're already doing.
I mean, they're doing this to like a child.
It's like, I wouldn't put anything past this person.
And potentially, like, may have even murdered Ron Galipsi somehow.
Exactly. Like, people are still not sure about that.
I don't know if I can... I don't know. And then Paul, at first, I was like, oh, he's the guy.
Like, it makes sense. It's his gun. It's like, it all kind of, like, just went with it.
But then, like... The letters coming while he's in prison threw me off.
But then when he comes out, all of a sudden they stop.
Right. That's throwing me off. And then like... Why would they stop when he got out of prison?
Like why would... He would stop them because he didn't want to go back to prison, but how could he pull off, like... not having them ever find anything in his cell.
That's the thing. It's like he wasn't writing them in prison.
There's no fucking way. So that just doesn't make sense unless there's someone else involved here.
Yeah, unless there's two. But where did that person go?
And the belief from the profiler was that this was one person who wrote these letters and i believe that the uh handwriting expert also believed the same thing yeah Which I do too.
If you look at the letters, for me, I think it's one person.
Yeah. I know handwriting analysis can be a little tricky.
Like some people legitimately like... Think it's like real science and then some people think it's like junk science.
Yeah, it's still hotly debated. debated so it's like one of those hotly debated things i don't have an opinion on it nor do i because i i certainly don't know how to look at somebody's handwriting and tell you anything so Who the fuck am I to say that it's junk science when I don't know?
Yeah, and I can't say it's junk science because I do find it fascinating.
It is fascinating, but it's one of those things that you're like, I don't know how much I should take that into account.
And you can change your writing so easily.
Well, that's the thing. I even change my writing sometimes without even meaning to.
Exactly. So it's like... I don't know about that one.
And then there's the fingerprints on 12 of the letters.
Where the hell did that come from? Because you can't transfer a fingerprint.
You can transfer the DNA. So that's weird.
But you can't really transfer a fingerprint onto a piece of paper.
So that is weird. But then at the same time ... The one that's been lifted from something at least.
One that's been lifted for something. Yeah.
At the same time, though, who are we to say that he didn't look through the letters at some point?
Yeah, I mean, like, maybe somebody was in the room when he was looking through them, but we don't know where that person is or if they ever said, hey, he touched other ones.
Right. was handed a letter, so it's not- It's not out of the realm of possibility. they had a folder of like the 12 nastiest ones or something like that because again hundreds of thousands of letters like i would there was hundreds at least i would assume that there was thousands Why would your fingerprints only be on 12?
I know you're saying he was maybe careless with those ones, but...
It's just weird to me. It doesn't make a lot of sense.
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Every time you think you go down a pass, something deviates you off that pass to be like, no, that doesn't make sense.
Right. The main thing. thought that I had was, was it the superintendent's wife?
I believe it's a woman. That never comes up anywhere in this whole thing.
I searched through a ton of things and the wife is never brought up.
But we are not alone in our belief that it's a woman because I went on like a ton of like online forums and shit. and a lot of people believe that it's a woman.
Yeah, I immediately thought it was a woman.
As soon as you started reading them out loud, I was like, I just feel like this is a woman writing.
I don't know why. I just got a vibe. Yeah.
It was something about the way it was said or what was said.
Yeah. I got a little rattled when they started talking about a 12-year-old girl.
I was like, ooh, who's this? Like, what?
Yeah. I don't know. There's some terrible women in the world for sure.
There definitely are. We've covered some of them. because i immediately was like well a woman wouldn't talk about a child like that but then i was like no what the fuck am i talking about there's plenty of terrible women Yeah, and the first letter says, stay away from Massey.
Don't lie when questioned about knowing him.
I know where you live. I've been observing your house and know you have children.
This is no joke. please take it serious.
Everyone concerned has been notified and everything will be over soon.
Like that does sound like a woman. And the thing about like ruining families. taking other people's husbands.
I'm like, that rings very... like it's a woman it does i don't know why it just does it does i definitely think it's a woman i just don't know who the hell she is yeah But guys, let us know what you think.
Do you think that it was a woman? Do you think that the booby trap was a setup?
Do you think Paul is guilty? What do you think?
What do you think, guys? I have no idea what to think by the end.
I have no fucking clue. Usually I have one path to go down.
I have none. I don't know what this was.
This was one of the most interesting cases though that I've like dove into.
I was like... Wow, Ohio. Wow. And then you're just like, hey, come down to the pumpkin festival.
Hell yeah. Which I want to. See you there.
Yeah, for real. I've got to imagine if we find out who the letter writer is.
You guys saw her there? Oh, that would be amazing. we get pumpkins out of it and like and salt cracking okay yeah and justice and justice Wow.
Who knows? There you go. It's crazy. Pumpkins and justice.
Well, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. weird but that's the way that you start writing anonymous letters for people and you terrorize their entire family and you say horrible things about children because like who the hell are you to do all that That's gross.
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The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
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