The Ravens Hollow

Richard Chase - Part II - Episode 041

Richard Chase—grimly nicknamed “The Vampire of Sacramento”—was less a criminal mastermind and more a catastrophic collision of untreated mental illness and escalating paranoia. In the late 1970s, he spiraled into delusions so severe he believed his blood was turning to powder, prompting him to seek “refills” in the most horrific ways imaginable. His crimes were chaotic rather than calculated, driven by fear rather than finesse, and ultimately ended only when neighbors and police connected the dots he left scattered like breadcrumbs.
Chase’s story isn’t one of cunning villainy—it’s a chilling reminder of what happens when profound psychiatric crises go unrecognized and untreated. If anything, he stands as a case study in how reality can fracture, and how dangerous that fracture can become when no one intervenes in time.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe

Richard Chase - Part I - Episode 040

Richard Chase—grimly nicknamed “The Vampire of Sacramento”—was less a criminal mastermind and more a catastrophic collision of untreated mental illness and escalating paranoia. In the late 1970s, he spiraled into delusions so severe he believed his blood was turning to powder, prompting him to seek “refills” in the most horrific ways imaginable. His crimes were chaotic rather than calculated, driven by fear rather than finesse, and ultimately ended only when neighbors and police connected the dots he left scattered like breadcrumbs.
Chase’s story isn’t one of cunning villainy—it’s a chilling reminder of what happens when profound psychiatric crises go unrecognized and untreated. If anything, he stands as a case study in how reality can fracture, and how dangerous that fracture can become when no one intervenes in time.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe

Frederick Charles Wood - Episode 039

Frederick Charles Wood isn’t exactly a household name, and honestly, that might be the only good news in his story. A small‑time criminal with big‑time delusions, Wood drifted through life with the charm of a damp dishrag and the decision‑making skills of someone who thought crime was a personality trait. His path eventually spiraled into violence, leaving behind a trail that investigators would later piece together with the grim patience of people who’ve seen far too much.
In our episode, we dive into the strange, unsettling world of a man who managed to be both forgettable and dangerous—a combination that makes for a chilling case study. We’ll explore how his early life, petty offenses, and escalating behavior formed a pattern that should have set off alarms long before it did. Think of it as a cautionary tale about what happens when red flags are ignored and bad choices snowball into tragedy.
This isn’t a story about a criminal mastermind. It’s about a man whose crimes were as senseless as they were devastating—and what his case reveals about the systems meant to stop people like him before it’s too late.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe

Allan Patterson Newman - Episode 038

Allan Newman wasn’t your average outlaw—unless your average outlaw is a bank‑robbing drifter with a talent for disappearing and a trail of bodies that investigators spent years trying to connect. In this episode, we peel back the layers of a man who blended charm, chaos, and cold calculation into a criminal résumé that baffled authorities and terrified communities.
From small‑town stickups to a chilling pattern of violence, Newman’s story is a twisted road trip through the darker corners of the American Midwest. We’ll explore how he evaded capture, why his crimes escalated, and what ultimately brought his spree to an end.
It’s a tale of masks—literal and psychological—where every answer raises a new question, and every crime scene hints at a man who was always two steps ahead… until he wasn’t
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe

David Mason - Episode 037

David Edwin Mason wasn’t just a serial killer—he was a catastrophically bad planner with a flair for self-destruction. Born in 1956, he drifted from juvenile delinquency to adult violence like someone checking off items on a very illegal bucket list. By 1980, he had embarked on a spree of strangling elderly victims in Oakland, California, a pattern so grim it felt like he was trying to speedrun the worst possible life choices.
His criminal career didn’t improve behind bars. Mason managed to add a cellmate to his victim count, proving that even incarceration couldn’t slow his momentum. When the justice system finally caught up, he did something almost no one on death row does: he waived his appeals. It was as if he looked at the legal system and said, “No thanks, I’ve caused enough paperwork.”
 
 
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe
 
 

Daniel Joe Hittle - Episode 036

Daniel Joe Hittle wasn’t just a repeat offender—he was an overachiever in all the worst ways. Born in Indiana and adopted into a Minnesota farm family, he grew up quiet, polite, and apparently harboring enough rage to later murder his adoptive parents in 1973. After serving time and securing parole, he took the concept of “fresh start” and twisted it into a 1989 Texas killing spree that left five people dead, including a police officer.
Hittle’s method was simple and unsubtle: a shotgun, a grudge, and absolutely no impulse control. His victims ranged from law enforcement to his own drug dealer—and even a child—cementing his place among America’s most chilling spree killers.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe
 
Source Credit: 
https://www/wikihow.com/Funny-Fun-Facts
https://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hittle

Charles Schmid Jr - Episode 035

Charles Schmid Jr., better known as the “Pied Piper of Tucson,” was the kind of small‑town troublemaker who tried to turn himself into a legend—platform shoes, pancake makeup, and all. In the mid‑1960s, he charmed Tucson’s teenagers with a mix of bravado and bad eyeliner, only to reveal a far darker side: behind the swagger lurked a manipulative killer responsible for the deaths of at least three young women.
Schmid cultivated an image somewhere between Elvis impersonator and desert outlaw, using his odd charisma to lure in admirers—until his crimes shocked the community and landed him behind bars. His story became infamous enough to inspire a Life magazine exposé and even a Joyce Carol Oates short story.
In short: he was the teen scene’s self‑appointed icon who turned out to be a nightmare in lift‑heeled boots—a chilling reminder that sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones who desperately want to be cool.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe
 
Source Credit: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Schmid
https:/www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/crime-history/pied-piper-tuscon-charles-howard-schmid

Robert Wayne Danielson - Episode 034

Robert Wayne Danielson Jr. carved out a grim legacy across the American West, leaving investigators chasing a trail as unpredictable as his movements. Born in 1946 and largely a mystery in his early years, Danielson drifted through life with a mix of depression, drug use, and a knack for turning roadside encounters into deadly confrontations.
After an early manslaughter conviction in 1970, he resurfaced in the early ’80s with a spree that stretched from Arizona to Oregon and California—robbing, kidnapping, and killing with chilling efficiency. Authorities ultimately tied him to at least seven victims, though suspicions lingered across multiple states.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe
 
Source Credit: 
https://www.buzzfeed.com/dannicaramirez/weird-facts-fs
https://truecrimearchives.blog/robert-wayne-danielson-jr-the-untold-story-of-a-serial-killer/
https://crimesolverscentral.com/serialkillers/357
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wayne_Danielson

Mary Ann Robson - Episode 033

A mother. A wife. A killer - again and again.  This Monday we travel back to the 19th century England, where poison was silent, grief was unquestioned, and one woman left a trail of death inside her own home.  Mary Ann Robson didn't murder strangers.  she murdered those closest to her.  
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe
 
Source Credit: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Ann-Cotton

Ariel Castro - Episode 032

Ariel Castro was the Cleveland school‑bus driver who proved that sometimes the monster doesn’t hide under the bed—he drives right past your house every morning. For a decade, he maintained a façade of ordinary neighborhood life while secretly imprisoning three women in his home, a crime so shocking it turned an unassuming Ohio street into the setting of one of the most disturbing true‑crime stories in modern history. Castro’s double life unraveled in 2013, when one survivor’s escape exposed the horrors he’d hidden in plain sight. His case remains a chilling reminder that evil can be remarkably mundane, and that resilience can emerge from the darkest corners.
 
 
 
Intro Audio:  Gavin Prater
Outro Audio: Jason Poe