Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Hello everyone. Seen in photo one is a postcard of The Nugget Casino in Sparks, Nevada. The Nugget is featured in my latest home movie film which I just uploaded. The history of Nevada casinos and the people who worked in them is really fascinating. Nevada is the Silver State due to the silver mined there but gambling probably overtook silver revenue a long time ago. Photo two shows one of the most controversial images ever debated as to whether it is a post mortem photo or not. I discovered this photo years ago and discuss it in my latest Instagram post. I like old photos so between true crime, photos, and interesting and unusual things, there is a lot to see on my Instagram account. Photo three is from a vintage matchcover. I like old matchcovers too and wanted to say "Thank You" to all of you who have viewed, liked, and subscribed to my videos.
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I've made some Zodiac Killer-related videos. I've been skeptical about suspects mostly because there has not been enough to explain why they would be the Zodiac - until now. If you are looking for a good book on the case I recommend "In The Shadow of Mt. Diablo" by Mike Rodelli. His meticulous research is not just compelling, jaw-dropping, and shocking - it completely stands up to scrutiny. In other words he backs up the connections he found and nothing is made up. He began his investigation some 25 years ago. He wanted to know: did someone write an unusual letter to the editor of a San Francisco newspaper using his own name with Zodiac-related themes some six months after the first known Zodiac murders? Yes, someone did and the writer warned of a "bloody confrontation" due to "the direction of our society." It's an extremely harsh and angry letter and it is reproduced in the book along with several other exhibits. The writer was Kjell Qvale, a wealthy San Francisco businessman with a horse ranch in Napa and a mansion in Presidio Heights, just walking distance from the Zodiac's 1969 murder of cab driver Paul Stine. The police even spoke to Qvale that night when they arrived to look for suspects! One of the most fascinating aspects in the book are the many personally significant dates of Qvale that line up with Zodiac crimes. Even more incredible is the all new behavioral profile based on the crime scenes provided by the famous Richard Walter of the Vidocq Society which points directly to a man like Qvale. It's all explained in an easy to understand way. Criminal profiling has evolved and this book helps explain why a successful person in need of a supreme challenge might fashion himself into an equally successful and deadly criminal, achieve what they want from it, and then stop. The book is amazing. It changed my mind about the Zodiac profile & why he had not been caught. What Rodelli found on his person of interest cannot be easily dismissed. I can't go over everything but we know some people crave danger, excitement, & challenges - even publicity. Qvale was such a man.
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The Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles can be briefly seen in David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive (2001). Adam Kesher, played by Justin Theroux, took out his wrath on a car after being told who he must cast in his movie. I made a video four years ago sharing my collection of Hotel Cecil paper items.
https://youtu.be/XPwiOMUiw9o?si=Nn2Fn...
I also made another video two years ago about a sniper who shot up downtown L.A. from the rooftop of the Hotel Cecil. And do you remember the tragic case of Canadian tourist and Hotel Cecil guest who went missing for several days only to be found deceased in the hotel's rooftop water tank on Feb. 19, 2013? This solved the mystery of the contaminated water in the hotel system but created many more. She was seen beforehand acting strangely in and out of one of the hotel's elevators. The coroner ruled her death accidental with bipolar disorder being a significant contributing factor. That seemed the most likely explanation to me.
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I discovered a strange case of pareidolia seen in the explosion of a Russian armored vehicle in Ukraine. It looks like the figure of a man in the center of the explosion. First his face and then his upper body for a micro second. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary: "The meaning of pareidolia is the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern." There are several ghost photo books with images like this that are very interesting to look at.
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The first flashlight invention seen in my new video The Zodiac Killer, Flashlight Guns, and The Tenth Victim Movie in San Francisco, was invented by a man named G. Howlett Davis. I found his obituary in the Detroit Free Press, Feb. 24, 1961. He also invented a long-lasting ink pad used by police departments for fingerprinting. Next I wanted to show another interesting invention (not in the video) called The Camera-Gun. This invention by Abraham Kurnick with a miniature camera took eight years to develop so that it worked right. It received publicity in various magazines including Climax, June, 1953. I don't know whatever became of it since I've only read about it in 1950s magazines. It was a forerunner to the body cams police wear now though totally different. The article says it was approved by leading police authorities and yet did they use it? It probably wasn't that suited for police work as the camera needed a special holster and the whole thing may have been thought to be too in-cumbersome for a quick draw. It took six photos but no one would reload the film during any type of fast moving, lengthy shootout. For the one or two-shot situation however - what interesting photos it must have taken. Stay safe this 4th! On a personal note I am working on some home projects this summer so while I have some videos started on various subjects it will take awhile to roll them out.
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Photo follow-ups to some videos. On Sept. 20, 2023, I introduced the Carolyn Scott story in the video "Model Dragged to Car By Kidnappers On Hollywood Blvd. Carolyn Scott 1958 True Crime L.A. California." The other day I found a photo of her in one of my detective magazines from 1958. This photo is not in the video. Next to her photo is a photo of a Beverly Hills police officer viewing the body of gangster Johnny Stompanato who was stabbed to death by Cheryl Crane, daughter of Lana Turner. That of course was a much bigger news story than Carolyn's story but here they are together. Cheryl claimed she was protecting her mother from Stompanato and they believed her. Photo two is from the Los Angeles Mirror, April 3, 1958. The attack on Carolyn happened a month before and on this page was another news story about it. The press referred to her as both a model and an exotic dancer. I can't be sure but as you see on this page there is a photo of "Ginger" at the Tiffany Club which was a burlesque theater. I think Ginger might be Carolyn. Lastly, photo three is of Peggy Satterlee - also a recent magazine photo find not in the video. Peggy was an underage dancer at Hollywood's Florentine Gardens. Some of her photos and story appeared in the video "Hollywood Girls Attacked: Caprice Capron, Peggy Satterlee, Stull Twins, Dr. Hodel's Missing Model" from March 16, 2023. (Dr. Hodel was not involved with these women unless the so-called "model 2" photo is one of them. None of these women were murdered either.) Actually in regard to the Florentine Gardens, I made a video about that too called "1940s Hollywood Florentine Gardens Mystery Photo Names & Panette Piper The Zodiac Dancer NY CA," released Jan. 28, 2023. As an aside note a man named Mark Hansen was an owner in the Florentine Gardens. He knew Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, though she did not work at the Florentine Gardens. Hansen had given her a place to stay. This made him a suspect in the murder. He was investigated and interviewed but they could not establish evidence or a motive. When the killer sent in some of her belongings to the newspaper Mark Hansen's address book was included. Elizabeth used it for her own contacts. In July, 1929, a woman named Lola Titus tried to kill Hansen by shooting him. He survived. She was adjudged legally insane and was sent to Patton State Hospital.
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I've always liked roadside America and quirky advertising. The mannequin hanging from a car bumper can be seen in my newest video, "Daly City CA 1970s Fun Times, etc." My younger brother clicked off a few frames of Super 8 film in the 70s of this attention grabbing advertising gimmick over a car dealership in Colma near where we lived. It only appears briefly in the video but I think it's cool he filmed it at all. Those reading this have probably seen other interesting outdoor advertising displays. One of the famous ones used over the years was called Big Tex (or other names) - a giant fiberglass man that people painted different ways to fit their business. He usually had his arms out so that he could hold a muffler or something. Some years after my brother filmed the car and mannequin I took photos of a giant boom box used by a radio station in front of the Toys R Us in Colma. Those photos can be seen in one of my videos. I wanted to mention another video as well - "My 1990s Art: Pre-9/11 Plane Crashes, NY Terrorism, Building Disasters, and Safety." One of the paintings featured in the video is the Corescraper which is an underground building - like a skyscraper but in the ground. A friend of mine let me know it is in an upcoming Slotkin Folk Art auction online April 27-28. The photo seen here is from the live auctioneers website which tracks various auctions but you can see the Slotkin "Self-Taught Art Masterpiece Sale" catalog on their website. In other news, now that I've made a few home movie videos in a row, I plan to complete several short true crime videos so those are on the way. Thank you subscribers for your support. I realize not every video is for everyone but I do hope you find some that interest you.
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For our new Tombstone, AZ, and Tilt-O-Whirl vintage film we present the Tilt-O-Whirl Story which was published in Amusement Business magazine in the 1960s. Created by Sellner Manufacturing Co. of Faribault, MN, in 1926, the ride has proved very popular at carnivals and amusement parks. Also seen are a couple of screen shots from the O.K. Corral show which appears to have been free back then. It looks like Tombstone has a separate area now for it. Choosing an image for a thumbnail can sometimes be difficult, especially when a home movie film has more than one subject. I chose the start of the film so it's clear it is not all Tombstone, but I can always change it in time. Mostly I think the chance of these home movies and my true crime content being found by viewers is subject to whether or not they are promoted by youtube, or if they can be found at all in search results, but I would think subscribing to spinsandneedles is the very best way to find out if we have something new.
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From Chloe Davis - Part 1, released on my channel on Nov. 30, 2020: "On April 4th, 1940, 11 year old Chloe Davis of Los Angeles, California, awoke to the screams of her siblings as they were being murdered by their mother. Chloe was the eldest daughter of Barton and Lolita Davis. The family lived in a modest house at 1211 West 58th Place. Barton, a nearby grocery store manager, had gone to work earlier in the morning. Chloe's mother may have been awake all night but she was in bed when Barton left. Chloe's two sisters, Daphne, aged 10, and Deborah, aged 7, as well as her little brother, Marquis, aged 3, spelled like the Marquis de Sade, had not stirred until after Barton left for work. When Chloe awoke the sights and sounds that greeted her were gruesome and horrifying. The bodies of her sisters and brother were strewn throughout the house where they lay dying, their heads bashed in from hammer blows . . . " Today is the 84th anniversary of those horrifying murders. My three-part series had been up for about a year and then one day they went viral into over 100,000 views - mainly Part 1 - but a few more thousand for 2 and 3. I sure appreciated that youtube made the videos known. At the time of the murders Lolita Davis had clearly become overwhelmingly psychotic. Her goal was to kill them all and she waited for Barton to leave. Among the many points of tragedy is that she previously indicated to Barton and to the neighbors that she had become fixated on death. When she caught Chloe she attempted to hammer her head and then spent about a half an hour trying to light her hair on fire. After that in almost unbelievable horror Lolita had Chloe participate in the violence. Chloe obeyed and went into shock over everything that happened. Her personality was unusual and the lead detective, the department psychiatrist Dr. Paul de River, and journalists blamed her for the murder - that is until they got the autopsy results on Lolita and discovered forensically what had happened at the end. It was a huge mess and a great embarrassment to the department. Dr. de River was barred from ever being involved with a juvenile crime suspect or victim again, ultimately being exposed as a non-psychiatrist and losing his job a few years later over his Black Dahlia/Leslie Dillon bizarre investigation. In a sense I think the Chloe Davis handling was more shocking than the Walter Collins switched-boy debacle in which the kidnapped boy's mother was placed in a mental ward. Be that as it may, if you look at the comments in my videos (Part 2 had its comments disabled) there were many viewers who made the same mistakes as the initial investigators. They blamed Chloe all over again. In m naiveté I thought people understood that in big news stories like this that some people who talk to reporters are publicity seekers and that a neighbor who said her daughter saw Chloe hit her mother would be seen for what it was - trash. The most important thing in establishing Chloe's innocence was the inquest in which Judge W. Turney Fox ruled: "The court accepts the findings of the Coroner's jury that the minor (Chloe) is not responsible for the death of either her mother or brother . . . that she was under the complete domination of her mother and therefore not responsible for any acts she may have committed. Very competent clinical and psychological studies definitely indicate she has no abnormality, either physical or mental." A newspaper article reported the testimony and ruling on April 25, 1940. It said, "But because of the 'emotional and mental shock from which she has not yet recovered,' the jurist made her a ward of the Juvenile Court so that she may be kept under observation" (and to live with her father with relatives subject to supervision by the Probation Department). The publicity seekers did not testify at the hearing but other neighbors and a teacher did. Her sixth grade teacher said, "She is one of the finest children I ever had in my classroom." (See parts IV and V.) Apparently the judge's ruling was not good enough for those who came after me to present the story as they suspiciously suggested things to their viewers like "more time" was needed to rule on the case. Of course they didn't present reasoned arguments of how that would turn the tables on Chloe. As for my videos, I would have done the music differently now for sure. There was one particular choice that bugged people but as I made the videos I began to think my voice would bug people more. There are many important take-aways to be found in the videos but mainly I was glad to be able to find and present some things about the grown-up Chloe who changed her name. I have some more info for future videos. She and her father suffered greatly and yet while many stories begin with a move to Los Angeles, their second lives began with a move away to the midwest where Barton and Lolita were originally from. Thank you for reading this as we remember the tragedy back on April 4, 1940.
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This interesting miniature car ride is seen in my newly posted Fort Dells Wisconsin Dells home movies. Photo two is from the pages of a mid-century guidebook of the Stand Rock Indian Ceremonial and photo three are of some Wisconsin Dells vintage photos. You can see a dog about to make the leap from a cliff to Stand Rock (Stand Rock is seen at the end of the home movies). There is a net underneath the rock and there is also a net seen in the early 1960s home movies. Naturally I don't expect tremendous interest in these films like the Wisconsin Dells Storybook Gardens films from the same family, however given time these types of films do gain an appreciative audience from people who either remember these attractions, or are glad to see them since Storybook Gardens and Fort Dells are long gone. Fort Dells closed in 1985. The car ride was a separate attraction from Fort Dells as the Fort was more about the old west, the Native Americans, and the sights and sounds of American pioneer life. Fort Dells in many ways seems to have been similar to Frontier Village in San Jose, CA, and many other western-themed family attractions. There used to be so many places like these but new highways, real estate values, and liability insurance costs made most of them obsolete. The Wisconsin Dells however is still a very popular destination. If you have ever been to Wisconsin Dells I hope it was a really worthwhile experience.
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Spinsandneedles features unusual true crime stories, continuing coverage of some of those stories, vintage home movies, history, and hobbies presented by Stephen Jon Powers. Your subscriptions are very appreciated and we hope you enjoy the videos.