Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 7, Episode 19 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

this program is about unsolved mysteries whenever possible the actual family members and police officials have
participated in recreating the events what you are about to see is not a news broadcast
the Ouija board - some an entertaining parlor game - others a strange and wondrous instrument able to bridge the
gap between the living and the dead it may sound unbelievable but tonight we'll bring you the remarkable case of
pearl currents who claimed that through the Ouija board she became the first conduit for a literary spirit named
patience worth September 1993 a motel manager reports an abandoned car in his parking lot the vehicle belongs to
Justin Berg Lincoln an army enlisted man who had apparently gone AWOL three months earlier - Justin's parents the
discovery was the latest twist in a dark scenario that may have led to their son's death at first it seemed like a
routine drug case a few grams of cocaine smuggled across state lines and a box of
clothes but then a fistful of suspicious hundred-dollar bills put investigators on the trail of a king's ransom and
bogus cenotes now authorities need your help to capture one of the most prolific
counterfeiters in history join me perhaps you hold the key perhaps you might be able to help solve a mystery
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the Ouija board modern face of a timeless instruments revered for nearly
3,000 years as a method to predict the future and contact the spirits of the dead paratus alleged powers the we J is
disarmingly simple nothing more than a flat piece of wood adorned with letters and numbers hands resting lightly on a
pointer one of the participants asks a question supposedly the indicator will move of its own accord and spell out an
answer the Ouija board first became popular in the United States during the 1890s when it was marketed as a
provocative parlor game a century later the board is still a best-seller and still handing out answers that pushed
the limits of scientific explanation consider the case of Gaynor Raleigh of Dunkirk New York some years ago Gaynor
was musing about a trip to Scotland when she playfully asked the Ouija board for
more details Gail's husband looked on from the kitchen I didn't really ask the Ouija board that I just said it kind of
start casting it you know who's going to be with me when I go across the board Gaynor says there without hesitation the
porter began to move soon the baffling answer was complete JD McDonald the Rorie's did not know a
single person with that last name six months later maroney's were steaming across England headed for the Scottish
border they got the shock of a lifetime when they were approached by a fellow passenger a stranger
the minute she said it I remembered the Ouija board saying it it stunned me so that I started to kind of laugh and I
must acted a little strange because the woman kind of pulled back startled JD MacDonald the roadies continued to
wonder if their startling encounter was simply a coincidence or proof positive that the Ouija board has supernatural
powers the rod is experienced though hardly earth-shaking is nonetheless of fitting introduction of the most
remarkable Ouija episode of all time beginning in 1913 and continuing for several years the lively spirit of a
17th century English woman named patience worth reportedly spoke through the board from beyond the grave
and by all accounts patience wasn't content with a simple hello she composed plays novels and countless poems an
astounding body of work filling some 30 volumes that has yet to be fully explained
the unlikely recipient of these unworldly contacts was pearl Curran wife of a prosperous st. Louis Missouri
businessman until patients came calling pearl apparently had no interest in the occult no creative activities beyond a
love of music pearl Curran had a very close friend named Emily grant Hutchings who was a very active freelance writer
mrs. Hutchings became interested in spiritualism and the Ouija board she persuaded pearl Curran to take part in
some experiments with the Ouija board around 1912 as far as we know mrs. Curran was very reluctant once a week
for nearly a year Perl game we played along to humor her friend however the Ouija produced little
more than gibberish on many evenings pearls mother joined the session notebook in hand just in case
on July 8 1913 the women had barely taken their places when the pointer suddenly began whipping across the board
selecting letters in a dizzying rush to the amazement of all present the letters
formed words the words a sentence many moons ago I live again I come patience worth my name it's a message patience
that's a Quaker name it was a modest beginning but soon the women truly began to believe that the spirit of patience
worth a young Englishwoman dead some 250 years was reaching out through the Ouija board over the next
few months patients began to dictate literary works and an archaic style sprinkled with words like thee and thou
well the language of patience worth was one of the many many baffling things in this case yet apparently was an amalgam
or a melange of words from many different times in English history and patience was often asked why do you
speak in such difficult language and her answer in effect was I do this because if I spoke in a simpler way you would
assume it was mrs. Curran speaking and it's not mrs. Curran speaking it's patience worth speaking and patience was
speaking volumes by 1915 when pearls husband John assumed the job of transcribing the sessions patience was
dictating for hours on end producing from 500 to 3,000 words at his sitting friends and curiosity seekers flocked to
st. Louis to witness the astounding creation of poems plays and novels one of those who came to see the spectacle
for himself was William M Reedy publisher of a respected literary journal I don't believe in this sort of thing
and it's rather amazing this is the Ouija board mm-hmm patients would you like to greet mr. Reidy patients replied
with characteristic irreverence roughly translated hello mister fat and wide fat
Hawaii certainly does mr. Reedy how would you like to join in and ask patients a question yourself you suppose
patients would continue her work on the novel if I have my hands on I don't see by the end of the session William Reedy
was enchanted yes his enthusiastic articles helped propel the case to international prominence weenie never
was willing to admit that patients Worth was indeed a spirit he never would go that far but what he did proclaim and he
proclaimed it again and again in his journal was the literary merit of the writings of patients worth in fact he
said that these were extremely extremely remarkable writings almost unparalleled
in literary history the praise continued when patients completed a full-length novel the sorry tale despite his
mysterious origins the book was snapped up by publishing giant Henry Holt and company the sorry tale was a novel about
Palestine at the time of Jesus a leading historian in st. Louis reviewed the sorry tale and he said unquestionably
this is the greatest book about Jesus written since the Gospels now for a distinguished historian
to write something of this kind was almost unheard of because he was putting his career on the line by taking this
position about the writings of someone purporting to be a spirit patients Worth was a spirit from the 16th century as
far as pure pearl Curran is concerned she was docker hunt author of we Joe the most dangerous game probably the best
documented case of Ouija work in the Western world she did she produced masterpiece after masterpiece hailed at
the time as masterpiece of chic her poetry was published and very sophisticated books magazines of poetry
indeed the New York Times gave the sorry Taylor rousing review saying it was written with quote the precision and the
accuracy of a master hand however the acclaim was not Universal some skeptics accused pearl Curran of
fraud they charge as she would memorize stories all day then at the sessions pass off the information is coming from
patience worth the investigators and there were a number of them who really looked into the case very carefully
found that there was just no truth in these stories everybody agreed that pearl Curran lived the average typical
life of a housewife during the day she would clean her house she would go grocery shopping she was not poring over
books all day a different theory was advanced by the scientific community perhaps patience Worth and her writings
were creations of pearl currents subconscious mind pearl Curran came from working-class parents her father was a
railroad man she quit school at the age of 13 and apparently neither before nor after that ever evinced any particular
interest in reading or literature or anything of that kind all of a sudden this provincial st. Louis housewife had
a separate personality that was capable of writing works that the New York Times
labelled the works of a genius I just don't see how science can so readily explain this phenomenon away
the books and pawns incredible as they seemed were overshadowed by yet another facet of this astonishing case the
currents childís after nine years of marriage finally decided to adopt at the persistent urging of none other than
patience worth in August of 1916 Pro and John made arrangements with a widow who was unable to care for the
baby she was expecting a baby patience predicted would be a girl for many the episode would provide convincing
evidence that supernatural powers were at work one evening patience was busily dictating when precisely at 8 p.m. she
suddenly stopped and she said in her own words this is enough how can I go on weaving which is what she called her
writing when something of this importance is happening and she refused to continue later that evening the
currents received electrifying news the child they planned to adopt was born at 8 p.m.
born at precisely the moment patience had interrupted her we giad dictation just as patience had foretold the infant
turned out to be a girl it was a first of several uncanny coincidence as noted by the currents they further found after
visiting the child that the baby had red hair and brown eyes the exact coloration
that patience worth often had claimed for herself they also found out that the mother of
the child had ancestry that was English scotch and this was the very same ancestry the patient's Worth had claimed
for herself [Music] for most spirits this would have been accomplishment enough however patience
worth continued to dictate through the Ouija board and a second novel entitled hope true blood hit the stores in 1918
the communication between pearl and patients continued unabated for another 19 years pearls husband John transcribed
the sessions until his death in 1922 in 1930 at the urging of a close friend pearl moved from st. Louis to Los
Angeles in November of 1937 the legacy of patience worth drew to a close with a disquieting prediction so it's time for
you to carry on as best you can pearl Curran was apparently healthy when she uttered those words inexplicably she
fell ill within two weeks within another week she was dead the voice of patience
worth had been stood over the course of 24 years patience worth dictated some four million words her poetry appeared
in respected journals her novels Basten critical acclaim but was patience worth really a ghost who communicated through
pearl Curran perhaps the best answer came from patients herself after a relentless questioning by skeptic
patients shot back a challenge essentially if you're so sure this is a trick let's see you knew it next join
the hook for a master counterfeiter who printed up millions of bogus bills [Music]
day in and day out it is a never-ending battle among thousands of miles of border at dozens of checkpoints customs
agents face long odds trying to choke off the stream of drugs floating the United States from Mexico but every now
and then officials get an unexpected break in January of 1995 an alert shipping clerk in the border town of
Brownsville Texas tipped off authorities two suspected narcotics activity investigators jumped on the lead they
never dreamed that their routine drug case will take a surprising twist and blow the cover of a master counterfeiter
who was literally making millions it all started when a man named John Volgin sent a package to his business address
in Minnesota what's inside the box you wrote down close yeah that's right close and it's going to Minnesota yes the
clerk was suspicious with Vogel's answers to the questions being that it's on a border town and being cognizant
drugs do originate out of Mexico into the United States she contacted u.s. customs officials customs officials
arranged for a drug sniffing dog come in dog ler t'adore hit on the package for the president's narcotics customs
officials then arranged for the pack should be forwarded on to Minnesota local police and customs agents are
waiting for the parcel when it arrived in Minnesota a search warrant allowed them to inspect the contents inside the
package they found various pieces of men's clothing and also to error saw containers with fake bottoms inside the
containers were about four grams of cocaine and 38 $100 bills from several strips of test print that using
counterfeit that reflects that Treasury seal and serial numbers a four gram cocaine bust is not even a
pistol shot in the war on drugs is bogus but authorities have stumbled upon what
would prove to be one of the biggest counterfeit operations on record investigators quickly traced the
identity of the man who had sent the package his name was John Bryson Vogel and he was no stranger to the law Vogel
has served time for armed bank robbery captured only after a violet high-speed chase since his parole in 1991 he had
operated a small printing business just outside Minneapolis Minnesota federal investigators put Vogel's
cocaine and counterfeit bills back inside his package then the parcel was taken to Vogel's business special
delivery courtesy of an undercover Secret Service agent moments after the delivery Vogel had unexpected visitors
fischels found approximately fifty thousand dollars in counterfeit money some of the counterfeit looked like it
had just recently been printed it was drying open on the various work benches in his shop
Vogel's counterfeit was described as very good or excellent he used various colors of ink on the bills as well as
some of the colored threads that are put into the bills for authenticity officials also searched a storage locker
Vogel had rented in that locker they found 190 6114 counterfeit $100 bills John Vogel was indeed a self-made
millionaire the bogus ceno's added up to an eye-popping nineteen million six hundred and eleven thousand dollars the
fourth largest haul in United States history Vogel had been printing the bills and shortly after his release from
prison Vogel had served time for 1986 on bank robbery while he was incarcerated he was assigned to the printing industry
there it's believed he learned the counterfeiting trade from another inmate authorities nabbed Vogel just in time
though yet pressed millions and phony bills he had circulated less than fifty thousand dollars worth a thora T's
learned that Vogel had logged thousands of miles Criss crossing America is spending his phony hundred-dollar bills
one by one by the time he was arrested Vogel's handiwork has surfaced at nearly half the states in the country On
January 17th 1995 Fogle was released on a personal recognizance bond he promptly
disappeared and has not been seen since [Music] [Music] next the Strange Case of Justin
Burlington did he run away from the army or did a secret operation lead to his death Justin Berg Lincoln specialist
United States Army he reported for duty in the summer of 1990 in the summer of 1993 he went AWOL absent without leave
and inexplicably disappeared three months later Justin's car was found gathering dust in the parking lot
of a remote Northern California motel the discovery proved to be one more indecipherable clue one more dead end
that left Justin's family anxiously waiting and wondering I don't know if he ran away from the Army I don't know if
he was kidnapped I don't know if he was murdered I do not have one clue what happened to him specialist Justin Berg
Winkle was respected by his superiors well-liked by his fellow soldiers and by all accounts simply not the type to
suddenly go AWOL however on several occasions Justin himself hinted at a secret life of undercover operations at
the time it seemed as if he was staging cloak-and-dagger theatrics to impress his friends but today those closest to
Justin believe the key to his disappearance may lie somewhere in a shadowy world of intrigue and deception
when he enlisted Justin Berg linkle set his sights on an elite combat unit known
as the Rangers he scored high on army tests and began language training in Korean however
within six months justin was yanked from the prestigious program after he was implicated in a shoplifting incident
altima justin was transferred to Fort Ord near Monterey California there that would be language specialists found
himself assigned to kitchen duty serving up meals to some 1,000 soldiers he had wanted to go in and be a ranger and of
course part of being a ranger is going through the language school when they took him out of there put him in the to
cook section he already had a hard time dealing with that at first but then he kind of refocused himself and said well
you know I if I want to be a ranger I'm gonna have to get back in there and really soldier to get back there
like many of his fellow soldiers Justin frequented area nightclubs on the weekend in August of 1992 he met Yolanda
unto us a computer science student of Santa Clara University there was a rapport there and he asked me for my
phone number and I gave it to him and then one weekend he showed him my door pick me up we went to San Francisco and
that's where it started we spent a whole day in San Francisco and we knew you know I knew he's a great guy Yolanda
lived here in Santa Clara south of San Francisco for dorg was 85 miles down the coast near Monterey before long Justin
was visiting Yolanda at every opportunity during the subsequent month she began to see the first signs of
Justin's secretive life citing urgent business he would interrupt his state or shuttled back and forth between
Yolanda's apartment and Monterey all of a sudden he would just stop what he's doing with me in the afternoon and just
say I'm sorry but I have to go up to Monterey and see some people but I'll be right back and I'll I'll be just saying
just like that out of the blue and he said just don't ask me well it's about I'll just return and then sorry I kind
of bothered me because we would have a good day and all sudden you leave and then he started getting more vague I
can't tell you it's I really can't can discuss this with you right now it's not right for you to know and later on it
became more like it just won't be a good thing for you to know it won't be you know you just I'm doing something you
know kind of secret and I can't reveal it to you in February of 1993 Justin was transferred from Fort Ord to
Fort Lewis near Tacoma Washington it wasn't until May some 10 weeks later the Justin made the trip south to spend
a two week furlough with Yolanda she recalls a visit as a jumble of baffling incidents and odd behavior
Justin always had a briefcase with him but I didn't think much of it because of briefcases of briefcases we can't make
much about a briefcase except he would be very secretive about it he would never open it in front of me that was
one time and I kind of angled myself just to turn and look over my shoulder to see what he was doing all he is doing
with that briefcase is taking pieces paper in fact taking pieces of paper out and shredding them with his hands just
tearing them into little tiny tiny pieces I mean it to little squares this small whatever Justin was involved in
seemed to be veering out of control Yolanda says that one day she found Justin alone in the living room sobbing
[Music] nothing no yeah and fine just to never clarify the incident and it was soon
eclipsed by a more mysterious episode it happened on a night when Justin was out
with friends hello Justin no he's not who's this okay what the missions off [Music]
Justin came back I woke up because I heard him and he looked completely pale completely friends here yeah some guy
called and said that the missions off what time did they call I think he was around 9:30 who was it what'd they say
the name was they didn't give a name they just said tell him at the missions off and they just hung up Justin who are
they who are these people Justin refused to discuss the call or explain the message Yolanda was still in
the dark a few days later when Justin packed his bags and headed back to Fort Lewis during his first week back at the
base Justin called his parents and sounded perfectly normal and upbeat however at around the same time for
reasons that remain obscure Justin purchased two handguns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition Friday June 4th
1993 0 for 30 hours private Justin Berg winkel failed a report for kitchen duty at Fort Lewis the dining facility should
have reported him as being absent Friday when he didn't show up because he was a
good soldier he'd never been in trouble before that they kind of tried to protect him and say well we'll we'll
find out where he is and deal with it ourselves instead of turning him in Monday morning but they realized that
they couldn't protect him any longer because it had it been a long time and they suspected that you know something
out of the ordinary was going on at captain heinzelmann now this is the duty sergeant the mess hall got an AWOL sir
it looks like for a man who had apparently gone AWOL justin was not making much of an effort to hide
[Music] in fact he had been at Yolanda's since late Friday night I don't know how he
could get more time off but I thought well if he was able to that's really great and I did want to see him Yolanda
soon learned that Justin was not exactly on vacation she insisted that he called
his parents no I'm not AWOL I wouldn't do anything like that no I'm gonna call heintzman that's a
mistake I'm gonna figure that out I'm working yes I'm working and Isis what what do you mean you're working and he
just said I can't tell you anymore he said but I'll straighten it up explain it all later and I will okay I just
can't I'm doing something very important right now all right you got to believe me and I'll explain to you later I said
to him at least call captain heinzelman you know at least call him and he said that he would Justin did call into the
unit he did indicate that he was gonna come back and that he had a couple more things to do once he got them them taken
care of that he was going to come back to the unit and report back in but Justin did not report in instead II
remained at Yolanda's and continued his mysterious trips to Monterrey don't make
me do this right now no I have to go you know the movie white sands watch that movie okay in a
conversation with his parents Justin had made the same cryptic reference to the film white sands released in 1992 the
movie plunges us viewers and his briefcase toting hero into the duplicity swirled of international arms smuggling
but it's about gun-running the FBI and the CIA and this one's against this one and you don't know who the good guy is
and you don't know who the bad guy is then you know then I thought oh you why are you working for the CIA you know it
was all too confusing but that's that's the only clue if anything that he's ever
given me about it Saturday June 12th Justin left Yolanda's apartment at around 10 a.m.
once again headed for Monterrey but this time Justin Berg winkle would not come back next couple of months I was on the
phone with the army my senators you know anyone I could think of to call to try to get the army to do something I
couldn't get anybody to help me the police wouldn't go to the girlfriend's house I mean nobody would do anything
nobody ever looked for him ever the windswept outskirts of Monterrey yielded one final clue in this puzzling
case three months after justin vanished his car was found in the parking lot of an isolated beachfront motel the Burg
winkles flew in from massachusetts to investigate they learned that their son's name did not appear in the motel
register although the car had been in the parking lot for nearly three months the manager assumed that had been left
by a guest for later pick up just as handguns were nowhere to be found but his briefcase had been stashed in
the trunk curiously his car keys were locked inside along with his wallet credit cards and military ID he knew
something was drastically wrong and you know like more or less that he had placed everything just the way he wanted
it found that's the way I look at it tucked in Justin's wallet was a standard-issue military dog tag when
Yolanda learned of that discovery she recalled a chilling conversation we were driving down one time in his car and
Justin had his dog tags and he said do you know what they're for I kind of had an idea but I suggested no no where are
they for and he says well when a soldier dies they put in his teeth so you can identify him I said okay he says well if
you ever see these you know mine round you know that means I'm dead is Justin Berg Winkle dead swallowed up
by a murky secret length or did he simply run away and cover his disappearance with an elaborate fantasy
plucked from a Hollywood movie I really don't think it's possible but he ran away to three things he loves he loved
his mother he loved his girlfriend deeply and he loved his carrot and in that day he just will tow everything
away is everything's gone I just can't believe anybody could do that without any trace of anything Justin now was not
the type of person that would go AWOL very reliable dependable you could always count on him to get the job done
so him going AWOL surprised everybody that I knew it just it just didn't happen with him I like to believe he's
still alive I don't like to think he's dead but if he was I wish I could find out and then I could at least bury him
and put it to rest because the not knowing that's about the worst thing that I can imagine is not knowing what
happened to him in a moment murder invades a small town but an unknown hitchhiker turns violent
[Music] it was around midnight June 22nd 1991 in Harrington Delaware black a factory
worker named Charles Holden stopped by a fast-food restaurant at the end of his shift it was a typical
night for Charles until he left the restaurant I went in got my hamburger you know wrong way across a lot and got
him a truck started my truck and as a receipt to get ready to back up I noticed a man right that my passion or
window late day but I'm a big time fine man my sister she's had a baby she's up in Georgetown I got to get there I live
very close by in the end Charles relented Harrington was a small town mostly friendly Charles
assumed he had nothing to worry about three miles down highway 14 Charles reached the intersection where he
normally turned to go home [Music] yeah I pulled off the off to the side and I saw this as far as far as we go
right here this is where you have to get off hey man I've got to get down the road ain't getting out of this truck I
can't go any further all right oh they could just go a few miles you know listen I got a problem
and I ain't getting out of this truck without warning the strings are attached Charles grab his keys and jump from the
truck he come at me with a calm down all right play with you I want that truck will go well take you over huh Charles
knew we had to act fast as he and the assailant headed back to the truck Charles made his move
[Music] Charles sped off in the opposite direction of his humps so the man could
not follow him home [Music] down the road Louise talked around him noting the word insight went down the
other way I talked around he said about no word sight so I finished down rude and when I come back to my driveway he
was at my trailer somehow by some disturbing coincidence the stranger had found his way to Charles's trailer now
Charles had an additional concern his trailer was adjacent to a small farmhouse where a 70 year old mother
lived Charles rushed to a pay phone and called the police are you doing I'm trooper Williams at
the Delaware State Police are you mr. Halden yes mr. Holden just explained to me that he had been home by his
residence and saw this black male there and that he needed somebody to go back with him because his person was hanging
around his mom's residence and his residence once we got there we checked to see if the doors were locked and
everything and both the back and front door of his trailer unlocked it looks like your house is secure here all right
could you come take a look at Bob's house and we walked across the grass because their property is adjacent to
each other we walked across the grass and around to the back door of the residence and that's when the two of us
discovered that the back window to the back door was broken [Music] Paul I thought something wrong when I
the first holler because mom she was a table model that she would she would be awake until I got in at night they
should go sleep [Music] in an upstairs bedroom Charles Holden found the body of his mother Dorothy
Donovan Dorothy had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest arms and face the police found nothing missing from
Dorothy's house and ruled out robbery as a motive but investigators feared Charles's story their first instinct was
that he had concocted an elaborate alibi I'm scared okay Charles you're gonna need come down the trip with us we're
gonna have to talk about this little brother okay just the mere coincidence of what he
said happened is difficult for the investigators to believe that he picks this guy up takes him a couple miles
drops him off and next thing you know he's at his mom's house never having met this lady or Charles before killing this
killing Dorothy Donovan it just was very hard to believe and it wasn't until we were able to go back and interview the
people at the past food restaurant were we able to you know see that yes his blackmail did exist also later that day
we were able to obtain certain physical evidence at the scene that being a bloody palm print and we also have found
two sources of DNA inside the residence neither of this specific physical evidence comes back to Charles Holden so
therefore because of these things we were able to eliminate Charles as a suspect the whole story seems like a big
nightmare to me you know it's just like it's in kind of dreamy don't don't don't
think it really had really happened you think you could jog over to almost house she beat her you know but I know
it's not gonna be happy she meant the world on me she called me every morning and never even take a
night to us does Bryn ever had I missed that dearly if she had been killed in a automobile wreck or had a
medical problem I could accept that and I don't think anybody has a right to kill someone and to take their life away
like that [Music] [Music] join me next Friday for another edition bunsall mysteries
[Music]

Brief Summary

The episode discusses Ouija board phenomena, Justin Berg Lincoln's disappearance, and John Vogel's counterfeiting operation.

Key points

The Mysterious Ouija Board. Exploring the Ouija board's history and its claims of supernatural communication.
Pearl Curran and Patience Worth. The incredible story of Pearl Curran, who claimed to channel a spirit through a Ouija board.
The Disappearance of Justin Berg Lincoln. The perplexing case of a soldier who went AWOL and vanished without a trace.
The Mystery of Justin's Disappearance. Justin's sudden vanishing raises questions about his mental state and possible secrets.
A Chilling Discovery. Charles Holden finds his mother brutally murdered, leading to a tense investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Perhaps you hold the key.

A call for help in solving a mystery.

1:21WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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