Boogeyman: The Murders and Myth of Gerard John Schaefer

11/06/2024

I have been following this story all week, and it has gained momentum...the very definition of how urban legends are created and spread...

Glen Powell recently shared a shocking story about his sister’s friend who went on a date with a cannibal. The only problem with his story? It sounds like an urban legend that dates back to at leas…

15/08/2023

I’m am excited and a bit nervous to announce…

Arcadia has asked me to write a children’s version of my latest book Haunted Ocala National Forest.

All the spooky craziness of the ghosts and weirdness of the forest, minus the serial killers and cults, for ages 8-11.

Looks like I’ll need to put the Swamp Witch of Sumter down for a bit…she gets to hide for a bit longer from people.

20/08/2022

Nancy Leichner and Pamela Nater disappeared the Alexander Springs Recreation Area of the Ocala National Forest in Lake County, Florida on 10/2/66. They have never been found.

28/06/2022

Interesting article…she gets into some of the crazy legends she grew up hearing about the Devil’s Tree…

I grew up thinking it was a ghost story, not a true crime.

02/06/2022

Breaking news…and the Boogeyman myth gets deeper…

Detectives with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have successfully identified human remains found as those of a teen missing from Broward County for nearly a half century. PBSO said the remains were found the morning of June 16, 1974, in a swampy area of Singer Island, located in North Palm ...

22/04/2022

06/04/2022

Episode 108 of Tripping on Legends, Stairways to Hell, is now up…
https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HSd6WVM4

You're walking through the woods, maybe just slightly off the path. There's a odd quiet in the trees and your gut tells you something isn't right. You squint into the distance, trying to make out that odd shadow being formed by the disappearing sun when your eyes adjust and you see it; a staircase in the middle of the forest.
Would you climb them?
There has been chatter recently all over the Internet about mysterious stairs found in the woods. People are scrambling to get the stories out, but also to explain them. Tripping on Legends has been to one, but there might be an even more mysterious set waiting for us as we plan our summer trip.

Join Christopher Balzano and Deanna Mulhern as we wander back into some dark woods to explore the urban legend of the forest stairs and some urban legends that have developed around some that we know exist.

Need a little homework?

Look into some of our weirder stories involving stairs, including some of our work into the Devil's Tree:
https://trippingonlegends.com/.../travel-log-the-devils.../

The Devil's Millhopper:
https://trippingonlegends.com/.../tripping-on-legends.../

Join us June 4th at the SWFL Skunk Ape Conference:
https://fb.me/e/1Ua5AMFNi

06/04/2022

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/descent-of-a-serial-killer-cbs/

What turns someone into a serial killer? A former FBI agent examines that very question in this CBS Reality series.

15/01/2022

Investigators traveled to Shreveport for this new documentary on one of Shreveport's scariest killers

10/01/2022

https://youtu.be/vpmgxPGEwdc

25 years on, Florida's first serial killer GJ Schaefer returns with a new expanded volume of illustrated killer fiction, featuring the stories used to convic...

02/10/2021

Drawlloween 2021- Day 2: Haunted
“Haunted Woods” Watercolor on paper.
What is that odd blue glow? It floats and moves among the trees, in the dark woods of the south.

27/07/2021

40 years ago today, Adam was abducted from a mall in Hollywood, Florida.

Ottis Toole, who admitted to the crime, sent John Walsh a series of horrific notes basically offering to sell him information on where the other parts of Adam could be found. But Toole was illiterate.

Three guesses who wrote the actual letters for him...

07/07/2021

https://youtu.be/ce2gRYXnyFg

War Party Paranormal is investigating the Devil's Tree in Port St. Lucie Florida with the author of the book Keith Rommel.This was the site of the murders of...

28/06/2021

https://torontosun.com/news/crime/crime-hunter-how-damn-weird-florida-cop-became-a-serial-killer

CRIME HUNTER: How 'damn weird' Florida cop became a serial killer

23/06/2021

In working on some projects last night, I discovered one of our classic episodes, Whispers and Screams from Shiloh Cemetery, was lost in the mystic ether.

I rediscovered it and reposted it. It's what is best about the show and features some of the most telling voices of the dead we ever captured.

It might just also the link between the haunted Ocala and the odd mythology of a serial killer.

https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/H5wwV5b4

It was another odd example of , but as I was working on material for Haunted Ocala and Boogeyman: The Murders and Myth of Gerard John Schaefer, I realized Episode 18 of Tripping on Legends: Whispers and Screams from Shiloh, was missing. I listened and found it had so much to do with those two projects and much of what TOL was and became; a real crossroads in the show.
So, I’m reposting it, knowing most will be allowed to listen to it for the first time. It’s a classic and the show at its best.
The Tripping on Legends Road Trip 2017 has finally actually hit the road...although the first stop is in Florida.
The Trippers make a quick pit stop in Sanford, Florida, to visit the cemetery behind the cemetery. Shiloh Cemetery is known for an urban legend of a serial killer victim with beautiful hair but no face. There might be something else there with her though as a man with a like (or a distaste) for females starts to come through loud and clear.

Listen to Episode 17...Trips, Triangles, and North Carolina Folklore
https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HQlcKh2Q

Listen to the unedited evidence and see if you can hear your own whispers and screams from our episode Evidence from Shiloh Cemetery in Sanford, Florida
https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/H9PRtKqQ

And visit our travel log with all the relevant information and moments from Shiloh
https://trippingonlegends.com/2018/06/21/travel-log-the-lady-of-shiloh-cemetery-in-sanford-florida/

Feel free to call our new phone number during our live shows to get involved, share a legend you’ve heard, or to just ask a question at (813) 418-6822.

Tripping on Legends is now part of the Midnight FM family. Check us out and see some of the other amazing shows they offer at https://midnight.fm/.

Haunted Florida Love Stories is finally available at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G6HK255/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

You can follow our dark journey through the forest as we prepare for the book at
https://www.facebook.com/The-Haunted-Ocala-National-Forest-623189158309846
or by following the hashtag .

Keep visiting the site for the trip log of our travels and other urban legends at: www.trippingonlegends.com

Follow our new project, This Town is Myth on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/ThisTownisMyth

and with the hashtag on all our social media platforms
You can contact us with questions, comments, and your favorite legend or tidbit of folklore at [email protected].
Follow us at:
www.facebook.com/trippingonlegends

Twitter:
Instagram:

There’s a haunted legend nearby, and we’re going to find it.

Join us on our journey to experi

23/06/2021

Another possible unsolved he might be linked to?

IN FLORIDA

On August 22, 1973 authorities were called to a wooded area of the Altamonte Springs dump in , just north of Lake Lotus where remains of two young females were discovered.

Within days authorities were able to identify one of the bodies as an eighteen year old female who had worked at the Orange Memorial Hospital in . She had been missing since August 5, 1973 before she mysteriously disappeared.

The second female remains unidentified and her facial reconstruction is depicted here by a Forensic Artist. She is estimated to be thirteen to eighteen years old and stood between 5'1"-5'7" tall. She had sandy brown hair pulled into a short ponytail. It is believed she was killed several months earlier, placing her death in early 1973. While both female’s deaths are possibly linked to an biker, authorities do not believe the two females knew each other.

Please call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST if you have any information that could help identify this female.

Additional images and information can be found at her poster: https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMU/1184260/1

13/06/2021

https://trippingonlegends.com/2021/06/12/boogeyman-the-vampires-wife/

A missing girl who was never missing ends up marrying a vampire under the full moon on Halloween. Another victim shuffled into a story which continues to confuse and seduce.

10/05/2021

Always loved the Mensa Murder...didn’t realize it was in Florida...

It’s been called the most disturbing murders in Central Florida history...
Latest episode available now... Poisoning ~ The Murder of Peggy Carr

29/04/2021

Panasoffkee is a lake, but it was almost a city. The Florida Gazetteer of 1887 shows Panasoffkee twice the size of Jacksonville. There was no Miami in those ...

25/04/2021

Join Paradise After Dark Podcast on Patreon to get access to this post and more benefits.

13/04/2021

The definition of creepy?

When your Alexa allows you to play Killer Fiction as an audio book...just imagine Schaefer’s descriptions of murders in Alexa’s voice...

16/03/2021

Do you know the real story of the Devil's Tree? Of course, real is a relative term when it comes to Schaefer...

http://trippingonlegends.com/2018/06/14/travel-log-the-devils-tree-in-oak-hammock-park-port-st-lucie/

The stage had been set for us to experience some of the what was being whispered about in Oak Hammock Park. The rumors of dark figures, odd noises and cries, and mysterious visions had us on edge.…

10/03/2021

Here's the episode of Tripping on Legends where we lay out the basic premise behind Boogeyman...

https://trippingonlegends.com/2021/01/16/tripping-on-legends-episode-85boogeyman-there-is-no-fact-or-fiction/

It started with an old cold case. Now, as the question of who killed Little Miss Panasoffkee dances around in our brains, only one name seems to make complete sense. Trouble is, no one talks about …

07/03/2021

Recently posted...a pretty complete summary of the Little Miss Panasoffkee crime...

https://www.ajc.com/news/the-strange-case-little-miss-lake-panasoffkee-enduring-mystery-after-years/25izmOK0f3eo9ztekLHL9M/?fbclid=IwAR3hU7VuOF7IbH__Rsc7YKP7RDYxud1uI6RlxIy58avx1jPtVv_r5SF04XM

Who was Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee? The woman found dead in a Central Florida lake 50 years ago today remains one of the most enduring unsolved murder mysteries of the 20th century.