Suspicious Death of Martha Mansfield

Martha Mansfield was determined to become an actress at the age of 14. Her first role would happen in a play of Little Women in 1912. She would act, sing and dance in some plays, and model in photographs before being signed by Essanay Studios.

On November 29, 1923, 24-year-old Martha was working at a location in San Antonio, Texas. She was playing the role of Agatha Warren in the movie The Warrens of Virginia. Because it was based in the Civil War she was wearing a costume based on the time. Which was of hoop skirts and flimsy ruffles. 

After filming was done Martha went to her car where her chauffeur was waiting. Her skirt would burst into flames. Those around tried to save her. The chauffeur tried to take her clothes off and the leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his heavy overcoat onto her. 

Both Martha and the Chaufer were burned. Martha's body was severely burned, but her face was not because of Wilfred's jacket. The Chaufer's hands were badly burned. They would be taken to the hospital. However the following day Martha would die. It was from burns of all extremities, general toxemia, and suppression of urine. 

It's unknown what exactly happened. It was known that a match was the culprit of the fire, but it was unknown who had done it. Some witnesses stated that they saw the match go through the window. Others theorized that Martha was trying to smoke and accidentally dropped the match. However, her mother stated that she didn't smoke and that it in fact made it uncomfortable. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

IMDB

Muskogee Daily Pheonix  and Times-Democrat November 30, 1923

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News November 30, 1923

Pensacola News Journal December 1, 1923

News 4 San Antonio Nevember 30, 2020

GHOSTS: Watercress Lady

Created in Bing Create

Pluckley, England is home to many hauntings. One of which is of a woman called the Watercress Lady. In the early 1900's likely the 1920's there was a gypsy woman who was living in Pluckley. Now Gypsies at the time were traveling nomads from either Ireland or Eastern Europeans living in wagons and at their stops would either earn money from trading things or working on local farms. This woman made a living gathering watercress and selling it to the villagers.

The old woman was known as an eccentric but harmless person. She was known for smoking her clay pipe and known to enjoy gin from her battered old flask. After the sun would set she would go to the crossroads bridge. She would sit on the walls enjoying the night air smoking her pipe and drinking her gin.

However one unfortunate night she fell asleep while doing so. She would spill her flask on herself and the pipe would fall and light her up. It was said that no one heard her screams. The next day she would be found as a pile of ashes with her flask and pipe nearby. Letting people know it was the Watercress Lady and she had a tragic end.

Even though the Watercress Lady's screams were not heard the night she died it was afterward. Her ghost would be seen many times after her death reliving her death. She would be covered in flames and her heartbreaking screams could be heard. Slowly however she stopped being a screaming ball of fire to a faint pink glow hovering over the place she burned to death.

SOURCES:
London Walking Tours

Ghost Connections

Ghosts Wiki

INFANTICIDE: April 24, 1924 Roker Beach, England Baby John Doe

On April 24, 1924, the body of a newborn baby boy was found on Roker Beach near Sunderland, England. The infant was burned, had a fractured elbow and a scalp wound. It's believed that right after birth the infant was placed in a fire and burned to death.

SOURCES:
Unsolved Murders UK

GHOSTS: La Sayona

 

La Sayona (Sack-Cloth Woman) is a ghostly woman who appears to men working in the jungle in Venezuela. She manifests when men talk to their coworkers about sex or about the women they left behind in their hometown. She appears as a beautiful woman or a specific woman that the man is thinking of. She is typically wearing a sack dress. She will lure them into the forests show a beast-like or rotting-like appearance and may have sex with the man and mangle and devour the man. She will then leave them for others to find. This young woman used to hold the name Casilda before her curse.

Casilda was the most beautiful girl in her small town on the plains of Venezuela. She would marry a great man and the two would have a baby boy. Even though her husband was caring and loving there was some doubt in Casilda's heart.

Casilda would bathe alone in the nearby river unknowing that a man was watching her do so. One day Casilda would catch the man staring at her. She would demand the man to leave. The man caught decided to lie to get out of the situation. "Your husband and mother are having an affair." 

This would enrage her and she would run back home. Seeing her husband sleeping with the baby in his arms filled her with rage at his betrayal. She would be blinded with rage and set the fire killing her family. While villagers could hear the screams and tried to help the father and son Casilda went to her mother's home. 

Her mother was sitting on the patio. Her mother not knowing what was going to happen saw her beautiful daughter. Unfortunately, it wasn't a pleasant visit as Casilda was determined to end those who wronged her. Casilda would use a machete striking her mother in the stomach. With her mother's last dying breath she would curse her "From now on Casilda you will have to avenge all women by killing their unfaithful husbands."

This was when Casilda became La Sayona.

SOURCES:

Villians Wiki

Urban Legendpedia

Moon Mausoleum

December 30, 1903, Iroquois Theater Fire 1 Unidentified

 

Image created by Charles N. Landon and published by the Tacoma Times

On December 30, 1903, the play Mr. Blue Beard was playing at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago Illinois. During the second act, the curtain was caught on fire possibly by an electrical short circuit. This made several of the theatergoers go into a panic. Some were calmed by the fact of an actor trying to keep them calm. But the theater was burning down around them so many tried to escape.

The fire extinguishers that the theater had were meant to be thrown at fires on the ground and were useless against this fire as it rose. Three exits were forced open but unluckily lead to unfinished fire escapes. Some of the doors opening caused the fire to increase. Many people were trampled, crushed and asphyxiated in the fire.

Even though the theater claimed before the fire that it was "absolutely fireproof" it was not. It had been noted by several people including the fire department captain, and the editor of Fireproof Magazine that it was not.  In fact, it was hazardous as the theater did not follow the rules. The fire warden was warned, but because they knew the owner would ignore it. Unfortunately, the carelessness of the owners caused 602 people to die.

One of the victims was never identified.

The victim was a white woman around 50-year-old. Her face was still recognizable when she died. She is buried in Montrose Cemetary in Chicago.

SOURCES:
Unidentified Wiki
Wikipedia
Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: November 6, 1930 Hardingstone, England John Doe

 

In November 1930, 35-year-old Alfred Rouse met a man outside of a London, England pub. The man would tell him a down-and-out and a hard-luck story, he was looking for work and mentioned he had no family. Alfred would then bring the unknown man to a pub for drinks. He would drink lemonade as he pays for the unknown man's drinks.

Alfred for a while thought of faking his own death for a while. He was fed up with his life and was expecting children from his mistresses. He wanted to start life over again and realized that the man would not be missed and took the opportunity. He would search out for the man on the 2nd or 3rd of November and would find him. Alfred would tell the man that he was going to Leicester on Wednesday and would give the unknown man a lift there. He would make an appointment to meet the man to meet on November 5th at 8 p.m.

On the 5th he would meet the man outside of the pub. The two men would ride in Alfred's Morris Minor. On the drive, the two would talk a lot, and the man would drink the whisky Alfred gave him. When they got to Hardingstone the man would be half dozing due to the whisky. He would grip the man's throat with his right hand and pushed his head against the back of the seat. The man did not resist and just gurgled. 

Around 1 a.m. on November 6th Alfred would then go and loosen the feeding pipe between the petrol tank and the carburetor. He would take the petrol can from the boot and poured it on both the victim and the vehicle before placing it back in the rear of the car and grab his attaché case Standing from a distance he would catch the vehicle on fire. The man was unconscious and burned alive.

His intention was to walk to Northampton and travel to Scottland by train to start his new life. But when he was walking away from the vehicle he would pass two young men. The men noticed the smoke and said something about it. In response, Alfred responded with "It looks like someone's having a bonfire up there." Alfred would then abandon his plan and return home as the men had seen him and he believed that no one would think it was him who was dead. He would then report the vehicle stolen.

The victim was badly burned in the vehicle. He would not be identified. Alfred would be soon arrested for the murder. He would be insistent during the trial that the car was caught on fire due to John Doe's Cigar. That John Doe had been asked to fill the petrol and he must have accidentally lit the car on fire. The Jury would find him guilty and he would be sentenced to hang. 

It wasn't until a few days before his execution on 10 March 1931 that Alfred admitted to the murder. He would write to the Daily Sketch of the events that happened. Alfred would refuse to help the police find the man's identity. He would though give some descriptions of him. He did not know the man's name as he had no reason to ask.

John Doe was between 33 and 40-years-old. He was 5'6" to 5'8". The autopsy revealed that he had worked in an extremely dusty place throughout his lfe. The following descriptions are from Alfred. The man was respectfully dressed in a light-colored overcoat and had an overall appearance of a clerk. He had a slight brogue and had a sporting or boxing tattoo on his right forearm. At the time he was wearing police boots and had told Alfred that London police had given them to him. He had also carried a sports diary. 

In 2012 DNA was taken from the John Doe, but this has not led to an identification yet. 

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

Wikipedia

BBC

UNIDENTIFIED: September 30, 1952 Gilpin County Maria Doe

On September 30, 1952, a man went on a hunting trip in a wooded area in Gilpin County, Colorado. He spotted legs underneath a burned log and reported it to the police. The log was 7ft long and was in an unused gravel pit 100 yards from Highway 119 and 35ft from Clear Creek.

 The body belonged to a young woman who had been killed within the last month. She had blunt force trauma to her head, but it was unknown what her cause of death was. It was possible that the injury had killed her, but also possible that it simply knocked her unconscious and she was burned alive.

She's a white female between 17 and 30-years-old. She was around 5'7" and had brown/black hair. She would have had a notable overbite. A fragment of a turquoise sequinned blouse, metal rivets of blue jeans, and a sole of a shoe. She was wearing a whinstone necklace and earrings. A purse, small electric razor, and an empty lipstick container. A man's wedding ring with no setting was found near the scene.

This case is often known as Maria or Pyre Case.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network
Greeley Daily Tribune (October 1, 1952)