Haunting American True Crimes: HJ’s First Serialized Season

Ever since I can remember, mysteries, true crime, and the law, in general, have fascinated me. When I was in high school, I even intended to go to college and become a lawyer. Junior year of high school I was nominated by a teacher to participate in a sort of work-study internship program. Students from Denver Public Schools were chosen to interview for internships all over the city, from working at the zoo or one of Denver’s many museums to law offices and courthouses.

I picked three jobs to interview for and all were in the legal field: the public defender’s office, a defense attorney, and the U.S. Courthouse.

I ended up at the courthouse with Steve Ehrlich, the Clerk of the Court at that time, as my mentor. He was amazing. I did a lot of filing and helping out in various areas within the courthouse, including helping with aspects of jury duty selection, processing tickets issued on federal land, and assisting with naturalization ceremonies.

But Mr. Ehrlich also assigned me what some might consider extra homework but which I considered fun and the best part of my courthouse experience: reading cases to report on and sitting in on trials, which also required a summary report of what I saw transpire.

At the time, a huge case in Denver’s history was starting to happen: the Alan Berg murder trial. He was an outspoken liberal radio show talk host who members of a white supremacist group gunned down outside his home in 1984.

Being in the room where such a high-profile case was happening was exhilarating.

After college, I studied for and took the LSAT, which I scored abysmally on. (I’m a horrible standardized test taker. I was a straight-A student my last two years of high school and have always been a good writer. In fact, it was my grades, but especially my essays, that helped me get into college because my SAT and ACT scores stunk.)

Anyway, it may have been a blessing in disguise I didn’t realize my dream of becoming a lawyer. For one, I didn’t want to take on all that extra debt to pay for law school. For another, I’m not sure I have the constitution for it. Meaning, I’m too nice. (Or I was back then. Life has toughened me up some over the years.)

But after having a taste of the legal field (because my internship had led to a summer job at the courthouse), I knew I still wanted to work in the law somehow, so I enrolled in a paralegal program, graduated with straight As, and landed a job at one of the biggest firms in Phoenix. To this day, that was the best job I ever had —besides creating Haunt Jaunts, of course.

I often interweave true crime with the paranormal here, but I’m about to do it in a way I’ve never done it before: with the first serialized season on the Haunt Jaunts podcast, Haunting American True Crimes.

Let’s take a quick peek at what it’ll be about, its start date, and where you can listen.

Haunting American True Crimes Premise

It all started with the following comment:

Haunted summer camps…Surely some of those campfire stories the counselors told us were based on actual events.

Which may make you feel like you’re experiencing déjà vu if you read “Did the unsolved Camp Scott Girl Scout Murders inspire Friday the 13th?” Because that was the post inspired by the comment from author Priscilla Bettis and I wrote the same thing there too: “It all started with…”

Well, now her comment and the resulting post has become the impetus for HJ’s first serialized season, Haunting American True Crimes.

Since that’s where this idea was born, the Camp Scott murders will be the first episode, but I’ll also examine the haunting Case of Zona Heaster Shue, the specter known as the Spiderman of Moncrief Place, and other real life American cases involving vampires, gypsy curses and even the devil. 

Haunting American True Crimes Release Date

The series launches on Monday, September 13.

Where to Listen

You can listen on Audioboom or via your favorite podcast provider.

Check-In

What’s one of the most haunting true crimes you’ve ever heard of?