[00:00:03] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Citegeist, the paranormal podcast that puts the ah in bibliography. Today, we have an episode where the history is truly leagues above the legend, and we'll be heading to Montpelier, Vermont to learn about Anna, the ghost who haunts what is now College Hall at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The story that circulated on campus was, let's just say, far from the truth. Now that being said, the archival deep dive is just so juicy. So I am not gonna keep you waiting any longer.

[00:00:37] - [Speaker 0]
Let's take a trip into Vermont's Green Mountains and see what exactly is happening in Montpelier. What was that? Stop being such a baby. Someone might hear us. Three college girls moved deftly in the dark, flashlights in hand, half crouched to avoid being seen in the windows.

[00:01:05] - [Speaker 0]
They had slipped into college hall through an old side door that didn't quite latch just minutes before midnight. Just one more floor, one of the girls named Jean said to the others. We're almost to the tower. One of the other girls scoffed. What, Sarah?

[00:01:23] - [Speaker 0]
She asked a little annoyed. I'm telling you, it's not the tower, Sarah said, rolling her eyes and she gestured with her flashlight to the flight of stairs ahead of them. The beam's light cast sharp shadows as it cascaded over the steps. We all know it happened right here. What are you on about Sarah?

[00:01:43] - [Speaker 0]
The third girl, Destiny, asked. Honest ghost, Sarah replied. Obviously, Jean muttered. But the stares, that's not what I heard. Well, Sarah began, settling into the authority of someone who took AP classes in high school and listened a little too closely during freshman orientation.

[00:02:05] - [Speaker 0]
Anna was this Victorian girl, part of a love triangle. She was supposed to marry her fiance but another girl was in love with him too and she wanted him all for herself. Anna and the girl argued at the top of these stairs right there and the other girl pushed her in a jealous rage and she died right where we're standing. Well, that's what my RA told me. Jean shook her head.

[00:02:30] - [Speaker 0]
No. That's not the version we know, she said gesturing between herself and destiny. Anna was the one who couldn't handle it. Her fiance left her for some other girl, so she climbed to the tower at midnight and threw herself off the edge. That's why she haunts the tower.

[00:02:49] - [Speaker 0]
That's why we're here at midnight. Oh, said Destiny. Well, that's not the version I know either. My English professor told us Anna was shot. Not inside, outside, down the hill a little bit.

[00:03:05] - [Speaker 0]
Another woman was in love with Anna's fiance and she confronted her. The woman pulled a gun on Anna and the tower was the last thing she saw before she died and that's why her spirit's here. Before anyone could try and argue their point, the old organ on the 2nd Floor, two floors below, began to play on its own. Not a full song, it was as if someone was absently playing a few notes on the keys as they walked past. They all stared at each other in silence, straining, listening.

[00:03:43] - [Speaker 0]
Bang. A sound from above. It sounded closer Then bang, bang, bang on the tower door straight ahead of them. The door handle started to rattle. And that was enough for them.

[00:04:00] - [Speaker 0]
They didn't need to see anything more. They turned and they ran down the stairs, past the now silent organ, out the side door that didn't quite latch, and back into the crisp Vermont air, breathless and swearing that they would never do that again. They wouldn't, of course, but countless other students would. This story or some version of it is a story that has circulated around Vermont College's college hall for decades. Not one story but several.

[00:04:34] - [Speaker 0]
Passed from RA to freshman, from professor to student. Like a haunted game of telephone, Anna was pushed. Anna jumped. Anna was shot. Anna died on the stairs.

[00:04:49] - [Speaker 0]
Anna died outside in the field. Anna died in the alley. Anna died as she hit the ground. Anna chose to relieve herself from heartbreak. Anna died by the hand of a scorned woman.

[00:05:02] - [Speaker 0]
Anna died from a bullet in her back. No matter the version you prefer or believe, Anna's ghost is inseparable from college hall. It's her that receives credit for the bangs in the night, the playing of the organ, the flushing of a toilet when there's no one in the stall next to you. And so the spirit of Anna lingers, not necessarily because she haunts the tower, but because the story does. Anna has been designated the tower's ghost without consulting the archives.

[00:05:37] - [Speaker 0]
Whether Anna ever set foot in that old tower in her life is one question. But there is one thing that we know for certain. There is definitely someone or something that haunts College Hall and goes bump in the night. Alright. I'm jumping right in with the ghosts.

[00:06:02] - [Speaker 0]
And I'll say it, there's no denying that weird stuff does happen at College Hall. I looked through Facebook comments and Lisa Fantinelli said, I recall doors closing by themselves and the smell of perfume and a presence. She was never really threatening or even scary at all. Other ghostly occurrences include the organ on the 2nd Floor playing on its own, strange noises from the tower, and toilets flushing when there's no one else in the bathroom with you. There was an experience from Martha Vanderbilt, said, my office was at the foot of the tower stairs.

[00:06:39] - [Speaker 0]
They actually opened into my office. One day I walked in to find everything knocked off my shelves. I wished it was the ghost. It was a starling that eventually died inside my printer. But it must have come down from the tower stairs anyway, so maybe it was the ghost inhabiting a starling.

[00:06:57] - [Speaker 0]
Now I love the cognitive dissonance with this. I've read elsewhere though that there are also bats in the tower and if that's true, it's likely exposed and that could explain that there are probably other things living up there rustling around and making a racket. But I get it. It makes sense that some people would jump to ghosts, though I'm not sure why they would jump to Anna as being that ghost. The one thing that the story portion gets right is that there was a young girl named Anna or Annie who died as a result of a love triangle.

[00:07:32] - [Speaker 0]
But it's likely that she never set foot in college hall in her entire lifetime. This story has strayed so far from its historical roots because of oral tradition, which as we know can warp and change a story drastically over time, especially when it's being told by teenagers. But thankfully, the version currently circulating today is grounded in fact, thanks to Michelle Singer, the former program assistant for the MFA writing program at VCFA. She brought the historic version of events back into focus when she wrote an article in 2015 for the bridge. However, while Singer brought the history to the attention of those at the school, Anna's story was actually very well documented and written about pretty extensively in other circles, which was a little bit disappointing for me, at least at first.

[00:08:27] - [Speaker 0]
When I work on stories for the podcast, my goal is to bring some new archival information into the light. And quite frankly, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to do that because Singer did a lot of really good research. But there were a few loose threads that she left hanging, and I'm happy to report that I was able to follow them and tie them off nice and neatly. But we'll get there in a little bit. Built in 1872, College Hall sits atop Seminary Hill, which got its name from the Vermont Methodist Conference who established their campus there.

[00:09:03] - [Speaker 0]
With its distinctive second empire style, College Hall has been an architectural landmark in Montpelier since its construction. It's also been used educationally since it was built. If you skip over the brief period of time, it was used as a military hospital during the civil war. And if you ask me, this is when it would have gathered up any ghosts, not when Anna was murdered. And like I said, Anna probably never set foot in College Hall because during her lifetime, it was a seminary.

[00:09:35] - [Speaker 0]
Yes. It was a local landmark in a building that she probably saw every single day, but she had no connection to it. She wasn't murdered in it or not even really just outside of it. Though the versions where it was the last thing she saw could have some veritas, but it's not like your spirit gets catapulted into the last thing you were looking at when you died. Though I guess that could probably explain haunted dolls, but I digress.

[00:10:03] - [Speaker 0]
We're talking about Anna, not Annabelle. So Anna's story actually begins in the summer of eighteen ninety six, a year before her death, when a 20 year old woman from a respectable family named Mildred Brewster sought independence and left home. Mildred bounced around working odd jobs in various cities until she found herself in Montpelier working as a seamstress at Ledden and Campbell. It was around this time that Mildred Brewster met a 21 year old stonecutter named Jack Wheeler. He was a catch by any standard.

[00:10:37] - [Speaker 0]
Handsome, hardworking, and a member of the YMCA basketball team. What more could a girl ask for? Eventually, they ended up lodging together in the same home that belonged to John f Goodenough. By all popular accounts, Mildred was absolutely smitten with Jack, but Jack refused all of her advances. He claimed that he was in love with his fiancee, Annie Wheeler.

[00:11:02] - [Speaker 0]
And Annie Wheeler and Jack Wheeler were not related. Don't worry. It's not weird like that. Annie or Anna was only 17 years old and living and working as a servant at her cousin's home, the Bugbee's. Mildred was overwhelmed by jealousy and had allegedly threatened to kill Jack and Annie several times because she was convinced that at some point Jack had promised to marry her.

[00:11:29] - [Speaker 0]
Annie was brave and she didn't take these threats seriously, though perhaps she should've. The next year in May 1897, Jack made plans to take Annie to Decoration Day festivities in Bar. Decoration day is the old timey term for Memorial Day, so Memorial Day. Mildred caught wind of these plans and apparently, this was the last straw for her. A week or two prior, Mildred had bought a revolver from a shop in bar and had been practicing with it for a few days.

[00:12:00] - [Speaker 0]
The night before Memorial Day, she packed up her trunk as if she was planning to go somewhere. And curious, her fellow boarders asked where she was going. And Mildred simply replied, I don't know, as if that were a normal answer. The next morning on Memorial Day, 05/29/1897, Mildred woke up at 05:00 that morning and headed quite a ways outside of the city And here, she practiced shooting her revolver and returned to town around 06:30. Upon returning to Montpelier, Mildred went straight up to the home of the Bugbees, Annie's cousins, and spent about ten minutes pacing on the porch before gathering up the courage to knock on the front door.

[00:12:43] - [Speaker 0]
Mildred called for Annie and the pair spent about forty five minutes talking at the house before Annie went inside and finished up to get ready for her trip with Jack. You see, Mildred was apparently still convinced that she was also engaged to Jack. And during their talk at the Bugbee's, Annie was overheard saying, well, Jack Wheeler can't be engaged to us both. We will have to let him decide. When Annie had finished getting ready, Mildred was waiting for her on the porch.

[00:13:11] - [Speaker 0]
And they walked together sharing an umbrella as they made their way to meet Jack at the boarding house he was staying at on Sibley Avenue. Witnesses said there did not appear to be any quarrel between the two girls, but just as soon as the woman set foot on a small dirt path that cut across the field to Sibley Avenue as they were shielded slightly from view by a small rock ledge, Mildred pulled out her revolver and shot Annie point blank behind her right ear. Before any witnesses which included Jack Wheeler who had seen the event happen from their front porches could react to that first gunshot. Mildred turned the gun on herself and fired in the same spot that she shot Annie. Back in Mildred's room at the boarding house lay a letter reading, don't blame lovesick girls for they were made thus loving.

[00:14:04] - [Speaker 0]
A handsome girl is something, one real good, willing, sacrificing more, but one who loves almost to distraction most. Take those lukewarm, indifferent, loveless beauties, you who would become a marital martyr. She is the premium wife whose fervored, glowing, whole soul, devoted love knows no limit, who is spellbound, magnetized, entranced beside herself when beside her lover, whose love torrent like sweeps all before it making all possible allowances for imperfections in the loved one and magnifying to the highest degree his desirable and loving traits of character. Annie Wheeler died at 01:30 that afternoon. Mildred Brewster did not.

[00:14:54] - [Speaker 0]
Though Mildred wished she had. Newspapers ran stories with dramatic headlines like praying for death and begged for her revolver, Mildred Brewster is still anxious to die. Which told of her condition saying that the bullet still remained in her skull and while she lay in her hospital bed, she pleaded with her father to give her back her revolver so she could finish the work of self destruction. In her anxious state, she also vowed to take all responsibility for the crime and that no punishment should come to Jack Wheeler. Now Mildred was in the hospital for a long time and for a good while there her fate was uncertain.

[00:15:35] - [Speaker 0]
While she was asking for death, many believed that it would simply be granted to her as exactly a month and a day after the murder. The Lowell's son ran a story with the headline Mildred Brewster will die stating Mildred Brewster will never be tried for the murder of Anna Wheeler. She is dying. She has been past all hopes of recovery for a week and the physicians anticipate her death at any time. It has been impossible to extricate the ball from miss Brewster's head and the doctors can do little to alleviate the excruciating pain produced by the wound.

[00:16:12] - [Speaker 0]
She has shown a remarkable tenacity of life. And that last line held true. Mildred, though still hospitalized, kept on living. Mildred was indicted for murder and her trial was scheduled to start in November. Now there was some drama I didn't quite follow about the indictment and the fact that a stenographer had been present during jury deliberations and so Mildred's defense requested that the trial go to the supreme court to be thrown out and they didn't meet until January.

[00:16:46] - [Speaker 0]
By the time January rolled around, Mildred finally had the bullet removed from her skull. And apparently, since she was still recovering in the hospital when it came time for her case to be heard by the Supreme Court, the defense and prosecution requested that her case be heard in her hospital room and she listened to the oral arguments from her hospital bed. The supreme court decided to move forward with the indictment and Mildred's trial was scheduled for March 1898. Unsurprisingly, Mildred's trial received national and international coverage and rightfully so. It was the perfect blend of drama, romance, and murder.

[00:17:27] - [Speaker 0]
Mildred and her lawyer declared a plea of not guilty on the basis of insanity, which at the time was a fairly revolutionary move and it was very unlikely to succeed in court. However, seeing as the case had so many witnesses and it was clear that Mildred had premeditated Annie's murder, it was really the only path out for Mildred. Even if that meant being institutionalized for the rest of her life. And mental hospitals, especially for women at the time, were not exactly exactly a place for improving your mental health. By the time of the trial, Mildred was out of the hospital, but still not fully well enough, so she sat in a cushioned rocking chair, which if you ask me, only helps her case for insanity because what an image.

[00:18:18] - [Speaker 0]
Just a woman probably still bandaged, rocking back and forth, the chair creaking beneath her as the trial goes on. But anyway, when it came to it, the trial wasn't about whether Mildred had murdered Annie Wheeler or not. It was whether Mildred was insane or not. So the trial involved countless testimonies from friends and family about other people in Mildred's family who had committed suicide or not quite there. It honestly felt like a parade of people getting on the stand and ragging on Mildred, but, I mean, the defense was to prove her insanity.

[00:18:57] - [Speaker 0]
And the newspapers had a field day with this too, running headlines like moods of Mildred Brewster, which highlighted testimony from the trial. One of Mildred's former employers from Burlington said that at times she would appear jolly and on other occasions morose And that he had known her to lock herself in her room for up to three days at a time. Other witnesses simply said that they often heard Mildred say that she would like to die. But there was a running theme with the dozens of testimony and that was that Mildred was sometimes very friendly, very happy, and very excitable, but then oftentimes was very quiet and liked to talk about death. She was actually fired from her job at Ledden and Campbell a few weeks before the murder because though she was great at her job and very efficient when she was first hired, she eventually became distracted and forgetful and clumsy.

[00:19:56] - [Speaker 0]
Mildred was let go and her employer Charles e Campbell said he had often heard Mildred talk about what was the easiest and best way to commit suicide. Other girls she worked with and boarded with testified about how strange Mildred was and how she was absolutely obsessed with Jack Wheeler, saying how he was going to marry her and that she would buy him gifts even though she didn't have the money for them. And all the while, everyone else knew that he was engaged to Annie Wheeler and paid no attention to Mildred. All the girls said that she had wild mood swings and talked about wanting to kill herself often. Of course, while all this testimony absolutely roasted Mildred, it was to her benefit.

[00:20:40] - [Speaker 0]
It painted her as a mentally unstable, lovesick woman who pined for a taken man who had never so much as held her hand. But I think that if we know anything, it's that men are never to be trusted. Annie was a victim, but so was Mildred. Modern tellings of this story still paint Mildred as a woman driven insane by jealousy. But taking a look at the trial, I don't think that that is a fair portrayal.

[00:21:12] - [Speaker 0]
Remember how Jack was all, I barely know the woman. Well, that wasn't quite true. Men love to paint women as crazy, but that's usually because the man has done something to make the woman crazy. Now maybe Mildred took things a little bit too far. Murder suicide is a bit much, I will admit.

[00:21:34] - [Speaker 0]
But what she appears to have gone through was not nothing. Jack testified that while he was friendly to Mildred, he had only ever deflected her advances. He said that Mildred tried to make moves on him when they boarded together, but he pushed her away and told her that he was to marry Anna Wheeler. Jack, Jack, Jack, come on now. Testimony of Eunice Miller who used to work with Mildred in Northfield shed some light on the truth.

[00:22:02] - [Speaker 0]
Eunice said that both Jack Wheeler and Juan Descalanes used to come to North Field to visit Mildred and that she would see them together on the piazza. One time, Eunice opened the sitting room door and found Mildred sitting in Jack's lap with both of his arms around her. But it doesn't stop there. Eunice wasn't the only one who had some interesting testimony on the matter. John f Goodenough, who eventually would board the pair, said that months before he did, Mildred and Jack kept company quite often and that they were at his house two or three times a week to visit his wife's sister, Mamie Phillips, who eventually became missus Descolanes.

[00:22:45] - [Speaker 0]
Mister Goodenough said that Mildred and Jack's actions were lover like, and eventually both Mildred and Jack ended up boarding at John's home at the same time. And during this time, Jack was known to be alone with Mildred in her bedroom on at least two occasions. Letters from Jack Wheeler to Mildred were read by the defense, which indicated that their relationship wasn't wholly platonic and that he was also jealous at one point because Mildred dared talk to another man. Now Juan de Colanes, Mamie's now husband, testified that Jack Wheeler had acted very freely toward Mildred and that they were very intimate. He also said that Jack Wheeler once told him that he had just as soon Mary Mildred if it were not for Anna Wheeler.

[00:23:35] - [Speaker 0]
Now Jack Wheeler was recalled to the stand after Juan's testimony and denied everything that Juan had said. However, later, Jack acknowledged telling Calanes that he had seen a doctor in regard to Mildred, that she was in a delicate condition, and that it would cost her $10. He also acknowledged that he told Calanes that he had given Mildred $5 and was to give her 5 more. Now, I'm naive and I thought that being in a delicate condition meant that Mildred was frail and depressed and moody because we know that she's a little unstable. That's been established.

[00:24:13] - [Speaker 0]
But no, being in a delicate condition is a Victorian euphemism for pregnancy. And this really brought the picture together for me. Mildred was already clearly suffering from an untreated mood disorder as her highs and lows were well documented since her childhood. So combine her untreated mental illness with the fact that a guy she loved got her pregnant, promised to marry her, but then turned around and got engaged to another woman even though he was recently mad at her for simply talking to another man. And then to top things off, Mildred lost her job after Jack forced her to get an abortion.

[00:24:55] - [Speaker 0]
Now I could see why Mildred would snap. Jack Wheeler, more like Jackass. But would a Victorian all male jury find any sympathy for Mildred? I can count on you listeners for finding sympathy, but a bunch of guys in Victorian America? Miraculously, yes.

[00:25:16] - [Speaker 0]
In a nearly unprecedented move, Mildred was found not guilty on the basis of insanity and was forcibly institutionalized at the Waterbury Asylum. I did read in the newspapers that there was talk of Jack possibly going on trial, but it looks like nothing ever came of it, which is a shame. But we'll get back to him in a bit. Interestingly, Mildred's ghost is said to haunt Montpelier's courthouse and I would wonder why, but I would say that she probably only would haunt it because a play was eventually written and performed at the courthouse about her trial called Mildred Taken Crazy, which I could not imagine was very sympathetic to her case. However, it's doubtful that Mildred haunts the county courthouse because she went on to live a rather full life.

[00:26:07] - [Speaker 0]
After serving ten years at Waterbury Asylum in February of nineteen o eight, she petitioned for her own release. By that April, Mildred testified in a hearing and a panel of doctors all weighed in on whether or not Mildred had been cured. Now the opinions were mixed to say the least. Doctor Steele said that she was sane and that there was no reason why she should be a menace to the community if she were to be let out. Doctor Pelton testified similarly saying that he was satisfied, she is sane, at the present time and that keeping her at the asylum would do her no benefit.

[00:26:45] - [Speaker 0]
However, not all the doctors agreed. Doctor Upton said that he did not think she would be a safe person to be at large, and doctor Grout said that Mildred was unstable, irresponsible, may call it, degeneracy, insanity, or whatever you like. Yikes. Doesn't sound like a great doctor. He kept going.

[00:27:06] - [Speaker 0]
She is as insane now as she always was. However, once again, miraculously, despite many indications to the contrary, Mildred was released from Waterbury that very same month and went to live with her friend and former schoolmate, missus WJ Ross and her husband. Finally, Mildred was free for about six months. In September, headlines crowded the newspapers like Mildred Brewster is sent back to asylum. Her friend had said she had absolutely no control over miss Brewster and she could do nothing with her.

[00:27:43] - [Speaker 0]
Naturally, the press had a field day with this saying things like the woman is a degenerate and Mildred was unceremoniously recommitted to the asylum. To me, it seems like Mildred was sent back to the asylum by her friend like a dog returned to a shelter for behavioral issues. It sounds like perhaps her friend and her husband weren't quite prepared for what rehabilitation might look like after ten years in an insane asylum and they simply wanted to offload her. Any living being or person who's gone through trauma and confinement is going to need some time to readjust to the world. You can't just expect them to navigate the world exactly as they did before just because they've been removed from a bad situation.

[00:28:33] - [Speaker 0]
Like many would be dog owners, I feel Mildred's friend didn't really understand the responsibility that she was signing up for. I sincerely believe she simply couldn't handle it and gave Mildred up like a dog. And you may be even saying to yourself listening, that's a really sympathetic take and it's full of a lot of assumptions. And you're probably right, but I'm also not the only one. Nearly six years after she was recommitted to the asylum, the 11/01/1916 issue of the Boston Journal ran an article boldly stating, nurse frees her former patient.

[00:29:08] - [Speaker 0]
Mildred Brewster, once accused of murder, quits insane asylum. On Halloween of nineteen sixteen, Mildred Brewster was released from Waterbury Asylum thanks to one of her former nurses. The nurse offered to let Mildred stay with her and her husband in Washington state if she was granted her release. And that article goes on to support my earlier hypothesis stating, in ordering the release of the Brewster woman today, judge Fisher intimated that there had not been a proper investigation when she was committed to the hospital a second time. Rather than questioning her return to the asylum, the doctors assumed she was insane because she was there before and locked her up again without any due process.

[00:29:52] - [Speaker 0]
After her release, Mildred received a sheriff's escort to Seattle, Washington where she lived out her life and mostly disappeared from the headlines before her death at the age of 65. Now this is where I got to have a little fun rifling my greedy little fingers through the archives. Singer's coverage of Mildred jumps from her leaving Vermont for Washington to her dying with absolutely nothing in between. And besides Mildred, she also said, Jack Wheeler has left no trace that I have been able to follow past his time in Montpelier, which may have been true, but I was able to finish his story too. I think one of the reasons that Singer may have had a little bit of trouble was that literally no one in this story used their real names, not even Anna, the ghost.

[00:30:41] - [Speaker 0]
Annie Wheeler, her real name was Carrie Anna Wheeler. Jack Wheeler, he oscillated between Jack and John Wheeler. And Mildred Brewster, her real name was Lena Marilla Brewster. So, yeah, tracking them down could be a little bit more difficult. Mildred or Lena as she went by, at least legally for the remainder of her life, never married.

[00:31:06] - [Speaker 0]
She worked as a demonstrator in the nineteen twenties, which is essentially retail or sales work. And in the nineteen thirties, she worked as a fruit canner. By the nineteen forties, she had found herself retired. Mildred's obituary and death certificate mentioned that she was a proprietor of a rooming house before her retirement, though I couldn't find any more details about that in city directories or in newspapers. During the Great Depression, I did find an ad about a Mildred Brewster who was jobless and was making money selling newspaper subscriptions.

[00:31:43] - [Speaker 0]
They even have a photo of her in the paper. They give no information, so it's really hard to tell if this person is our Mildred. But judging by the age of the woman in this picture, I'm not convinced personally. Sadly, Mildred passed away on 04/27/1942 of stomach cancer, which she had apparently been suffering from for quite a few months. Now you may not be as sympathetic as I am, so maybe you're a little bit more interested in what happened to Jack Wheeler.

[00:32:13] - [Speaker 0]
But neither Singer nor any other article I read for this story could seem to find out what happened to him after the trial. But I think that I cracked it, But it was not easy. Jack Wheeler or John Wheeler actually came to The United States from Canada when he was a young man and now this was a very helpful bit of information because it makes him much more identifiable. Lucky for us, federal census records always record the place of birth. So this helps set him apart from other John Wheelers and trust me, they were a lot of John Wheelers.

[00:32:48] - [Speaker 0]
Through further digging, found out his name was John w Wheeler, though I never really found out what the w stood for. I can only assume it's probably William. And with that information, I found an obituary from Vermont for a John w Wheeler. And one might find this article and say, that's it. Case closed.

[00:33:07] - [Speaker 0]
It wasn't quite true. This was not our John Wheeler. Continuing my research, I did come across a curious death record from a man named John w Wheeler who died of a ruptured aneurysm in his lower thoracic aorta who was living in Nicholasville, Kentucky. And he died on 03/12/1941 at the age of 65. The birth date could be about right for our John Wheeler, but his birthplace is what lured me in, Canada.

[00:33:39] - [Speaker 0]
Now again, this could be yet another John w Wheeler from Canada, born around the same time as Jack Wheeler from our story. But what was really a eureka moment was that his occupation was listed as a stonecutter. We know that Jack Wheeler is also a stonecutter. But even though the birth date, the name, the occupation, and the place of birth matched what we were looking for, I still needed something more to confirm this is our John or Jack Wheeler. Too many other John Wheelers I saw were born between 1875 and 1877 in Canada who moved to The United States, and some of them were also stonecutters.

[00:34:22] - [Speaker 0]
What I really needed was a tie specifically to Vermont, and what would be even better would be ties to another known family member. Now I looked at census records from 1910 to 1940, and they all have this same John w Wheeler in Kentucky, owning his own monument shop, married to a wife named Claire with four children, but I still can trace this directly back to our Jack Wheeler except I did notice something. The 1920 census had another member in the household, a man by the name of Sam Wheeler who was listed as John's brother. Now this was something I could work with. I recalled reading in Singer's research that Jack arrived from Canada with his brother and then later brought his mother, but Singer never provided either of their names.

[00:35:14] - [Speaker 0]
The 1900 census had our John Wheeler still living in Vermont, but he was just listed as a lodger in a boarding house where no other Wheelers were present. So that wasn't much of a help. I found a Canadian census from 1880 that listed a John w Wheeler with a brother named Sam, which matched our John Wheeler from Kentucky, but this still had no ties to our Jack in Vermont. Border crossings, near matches, but nothing really helpful. And then I wondered, did Jack Wheeler's brother live in Vermont at the time of the murder?

[00:35:50] - [Speaker 0]
Sure. He wasn't in the 1900 census, which happened after the murder, but they could have lived separately. Maybe his brother's name appeared in the trial or in some of the newspapers. I searched the nearly 55 newspaper articles I had saved on my computer and eventually found reference in one article that Mildred Brewster had talked to Jack Wheeler's brother, but the article didn't provide a name. But it meant that Jack Wheeler's brother was in The States at the time of the murder.

[00:36:22] - [Speaker 0]
So I took this information and went back to searching through other articles, and after a bunch of digging, I finally found it. One line in one paper. In the 04/08/1898 issue of the Boston Herald, the article was titled, jury visited the scene. In the end of the article recounted the murder saying, there was an appearance of life in both bodies which were taken into the Wheeler house. Jack and Sam Wheeler arrived at about the same time as the witness.

[00:36:54] - [Speaker 0]
That was my smoking gun. With that little bit of information, I think I can tie up the loose end that Singer wasn't quite able to finish and that at least one commenter on an article online, I'm looking at you, Shelly Jay, wanted to know. What happened to Jack Wheeler? It looks like Jack moved out of Vermont and settled in Kentucky sometime before 1910. He married a woman named Claire and had at least four children.

[00:37:20] - [Speaker 0]
And he set up a stone cutting shop of his own. And he specialized in memorials and gravestones. And he died at the age of 65, just a year before Mildred. And that's that for Jack. And so while this episode started out about Anna Wheeler, I felt myself drawn more and more towards Mildred.

[00:37:40] - [Speaker 0]
And yes, Annie was the victim here, but in my opinion, Mildred was too. I can't excuse what she did, but it was also clear that Mildred was also suffering. She was being abused at least emotionally by a man who put her through the trauma of aborting her baby and leaving her in the cold. Mildred clearly did not have access to the help that she needed neither medically nor culturally. Society at the time did not view mental health in the way that we do now.

[00:38:12] - [Speaker 0]
I really think that the real villain here is Jack Wheeler, but let me know how you feel in the comments. I'm curious. Now do I think that Annie or Anna's ghost haunts college hall? No. I don't.

[00:38:27] - [Speaker 0]
She has no reason to. Civil war spirits? Sure. Now that I can get behind. If there are spirits there, I think it would be them.

[00:38:36] - [Speaker 0]
But I can also get behind bats in the belfry. But you know me, always a skeptic. And always, if you know me, here's the point of the show where I grovel. If you can leave a review on iTunes, it truly helps a ton. But more importantly, tell any friends who you think would be interested in the podcast about the show.

[00:38:55] - [Speaker 0]
Who knows? They might enjoy it. I hope you do. Oh god. God, I hope you do.

[00:39:00] - [Speaker 0]
But let's just keep growing our community of bibliographers. I'll be back in another two weeks to talk about a spiritualist sensation, and it's not something you wanna miss. Until then, don't trust a damn thing a man says. Take care of your own mental health. And I'll see you in the stacks.