The Bizarre and Unexplained Death on Rattlesnake Hill
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This is Murder, She Told, true crime stories from Maine, New England, and small town USA. I'm your host, Kristen Seavey. You can connect with me and suggest your hometown crime at MurderSheTold.com and follow on Instagram at MurderSheToldPodcast.

In the middle of the night on Thursday, May 20th, 1936, firefighters and forestry service members fought a still-burning underbrush fire near the top of Rattlesnake Hill. They were trying to extinguish a mysterious blaze that had arisen the day prior and had burned through several acres of forest.

In heavy gear, officials climbed the steep and ill-used two-mile trail, ascending 1,000 feet to the summit and put it out.

The fire lookout station in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, about 10 miles to the north, sighted the fire at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. They notified the local fire warden who assembled a team of 15 men and made the laborious trip up the mountain on Wednesday evening, reaching the fire around midnight.

The men worked through the night until about 5:00 a.m. Thursday morning to stop the flames and then returned home. The fire warden sent two men back up the mountain to keep watch, fearing the embers might kindle another blaze, telling them to wait for him until 11:00 a.m. As they waited and searched the peak to find the source of the conflagration, they stumbled on a horrifying discovery.

A woman whose body was burned beyond recognition. They realized then that this scene wasn't the ruins of a rogue lightning bolt, but rather the scars from the barbarity of man.

Under her body, they discovered about a dozen bullets embedded 3 to 4 inches in the dirt. Nearby was a .22 caliber revolver, fully loaded with undischarged rounds blackened from the fire, nine discharged shell casings scattered on the ground, as well as a partially burned purse containing two compacts that were inscribed with the initials HAH.

Police also discovered a one-gallon empty metal syrup can and 99 cents in change scattered around. Doctors later determined that her body had evidence of blunt force trauma to the back of her head. Both of her arms and legs were broken, and her skull was fractured. And it was clear that some kind of gasoline fluid had been used to set her on fire, which left no clues to her identity.

The only clothing that could be identified was a single suede shoe, a size 6.5 high-heeled pump with three eyelets.

Today, you can hike or run this small 10-50-foot mountain with no problem, but at the time, there wasn't a clear and maintained path. It was overgrown, and at the time, it was also referred to as Rattlesnake Hill because of its apparent infestation of the now-endangered timber rattlesnake. Rattlesnake Hill overlooks the Connecticut River and borders Brattleboro, Vermont.

The remains were sent to the medical examiner's office for autopsy. Who was this woman? And why was she on fire on the mountain? Firemen concluded that the fire's origin was with her body or the mat of leaves where she laid.

The wind pattern that day was consistent. Strong northwest wind which fanned the flames to the south. No traces of fire were found north of her body. She was the northernmost point and therefore the start of the fire. Two young Brattleboro women saw the woman Wednesday afternoon, about 1.30 p.m., when they were on the west side of the mountain, partway up the trail picking flowers.

A woman they remember as being about 40 years old accosted them and asked if they should be in school. She said she was going to the top of the mountain for its expansive views of the surrounding country. She carried a suitcase, appeared very tired, and spoke with what the young women thought was an Irish accent. She was wearing a blue-figured silk print dress and blue straw hat, her bobbed hair tinged with gray.

The Brattleboro Reformer, the local newspaper, conducted its own investigation and learned that late Tuesday afternoon, a guest at a local hotel, the Plaza, registered a Grace Hurley of Boston, who was seen near the base of the mountain when a rainstorm began. She ran to a nearby residence and took shelter on a patio until asked inside.

for a short time she played with the baby and the family and then the couple who lived there brought her to west brattleboro and left her at a small bridge that spanned a narrow brook she matched the description of the woman seen on the mountain the next day by the young women

At the plaza, the woman talked with the owner concerning the mountain, asking if there was a path to the top and what was on the other side. She left the plaza early Wednesday afternoon around 1 o'clock, wearing a blue coat, blue hat, and carrying an overnight case.

At a house on the mountain highway about 50 feet from the Little River Bridge, which crosses the Connecticut River into New Hampshire, the residents saw a woman similarly dressed and carrying an overnight case walk past their home towards the Old Mountain Pathway.

The next morning, which was Thursday, those same residents saw two men drive past, heading north towards the mountain path. They had a Pontiac Coupe, which they parked at the foot of the mountain. They didn't return until 7.30 p.m. that night and drove south toward Hinsdale. One appeared intoxicated and the car bore a New Hampshire plate.

Another piece of evidence came from the foreman of a gypsy moth extermination crew that was working on the mountain that afternoon. He said that he heard shooting between 2 and 4 p.m., but that he didn't think much of it at the time because there was often shooting in the hills. This suggested that the spent shell casings discovered at the body were in fact discharged that afternoon.

In the days following the discovery, investigators hiked the lonely pathway to the isolated area where the body was found, combing the brush for any clues that could lead to a killer or the identity of the mystery woman. Investigators were also trying to explain the two holes she had in the base of her head. Believing the victim was young, authorities checked records for any reports of missing girls in the surrounding areas without any luck.

Their first hunch was that she was visiting the area from out of town and willingly went on a hike with the perpetrator to the top of the mountain, where he killed her and set her body on fire. County Solicitor Arthur Olson alternatively speculated it was possible that her death was part of a suicide pact in which the other party failed to carry out their part, suggesting that the bullet wounds could have been self-inflicted.

He included no explanation of the bullets that lay underneath her body. Officials scrambled, trying to piece together this mystery, and they got the break they needed. They were able to get a serial number off the gun that was found and contacted the manufacturer in Worcester, Massachusetts. They asked for help to track the chain of custody to its sale, and they got a hit.

A woman had purchased the .22 revolver just two days prior in a town some 65 miles away called White River Junction, and her name was Grace Hurley. The shopkeeper remembered Grace and said that she paid in cash, peeling off 20s from a roll of bills that looked like it had about $500.

Additionally, a clerk at a store in White River Junction told police that Grace Hurley had purchased an empty gallon can that was used to hold maple syrup and gave a similar story as the clerk who sold her the gun. She was wealthy, middle-aged, and identified herself as Grace Hurley.

Local police had no record of a Grace Hurley who lived in Brattleboro, across the river from where the mountain was located, so they checked hotels to see if she'd been staying as a guest. And sure enough, on Tuesday, May 19th, also two days before the fire, Brattleboro's Plaza Hotel produced a log which showed the signature of one Grace Hurley of Boston, Massachusetts.

Despite thinking initially that Grace was a young woman, the autopsy and eyewitness descriptions revealed that she was actually between 38 and 50, and probably a mother to several children. She was quite short, between 4 foot 11 and 5 feet tall, and between 100 and 115 pounds. A dental plate, a type of partial denture used to fill in missing teeth, was found at the scene a short distance from the body.

and a dental inspection revealed she had gold caps covering two of the eye teeth on her lower jaw. Dr. Arthur G. Weston, who performed the autopsy, also discovered that Grace was recently pregnant and had had an abortion shortly before her death.

Though there were ways in 1936 to get a back-alley abortion, it wasn't a legal practice, and because the conditions were often unsafe, many women died at the hands of doctors during operations. Could Grace have been a victim of a botched abortion that was covered up by an elaborate fire? Or perhaps a paramour had gotten her pregnant and wanted to cover up the affair?

But the case was about to get even more complicated because authorities believed that Grace Hurley was actually a pseudonym. And while they did believe that the woman who identified herself as Grace Hurley was the woman on top of the mountain, they believed that the case's only hope of being solved was contingent on a positive identification.

So they turned to her dental plates, which were both found separately about 15 to 12 feet from her body. A dental chart and description were made and sent to dentists across the country in hopes that somebody recognized their work. In the meantime, they searched for clues in Brattleboro and White River Junction, Vermont, both locations where she checked into different hotels.

Though the mountain she was found at was very close to Brattleboro, Vermont, it was just over the state line of New Hampshire in Cheshire County, so the officials in Keene were handling the investigation.

On May 26th, five days after the fire, Robert E. Friel of Clinton, Massachusetts, and his family dentist, Dr. Henry Dupre, traveled to Keene, New Hampshire, to view the dental plates of Grace Hurley. Newspapers in the surrounding region had published, at the behest of law enforcement, a photograph of her signature, in hopes that someone would recognize her name or her handwriting.

Robert recognized the handwriting and the name Grace Hurley as belonging to his wife, and knowing that there was a dental plate available, asked Dr. Dupre to travel with him to assist in the identification. Upon examination, the dental plate was confirmed, and the identity of the mystery woman revealed.

She was 50-year-old Mrs. Elizabeth Cannon Friel. Dr. Dupre had made the half-plate of Fault's teeth four or five years ago, and he had fitted her with gold crowns about eight years prior.

Robert was an executive of Wachusett Electric and Clinton Gas and Light Company in their home of Clinton, Massachusetts, about 70 miles away from the mountain where her body was found. He and Elizabeth had three children together, two daughters, Marie and Alice, who were about to graduate as seniors at Clinton High School, and Robert Jr., who was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania and was studying to be a veterinarian.

They lived on 121 Orange Street in Clinton, Massachusetts, where she was born and raised. Elizabeth had a robust social life and was active in the community. She was also part of the wealthier circles and women's club in town who participated in charitable events.

Elizabeth was eccentric, and according to her husband, had been suffering with a nervous disorder for about 15 years. And according to her husband, had been suffering with a nervous disorder for about 15 years. This disorder often gave her wanderlust, and she periodically left home for days at a time on impulse and with no notice. This time, she'd been gone since May 15th. But she always came back, he said.

Her friends did admit that she'd been acting strangely for quite some time, but that she was intelligent, always pleasant, and stayed in the know of current events. He told detectives that their relationship was unusual, and he noticed changes in her behavior after the birth of their last child about 15 to 18 years ago.

Both of the girls were born less than a year apart. It was around this time that she began taking off on trips, and Robert said he didn't stop her from going. He would usually leave around $50 at the house so she wouldn't be without money. She would just say she felt like taking a little trip or needed to be alone and didn't want to be inhibited and would always come back when the money ran out, which was usually after a few days.

Robert never asked questions about what she did while she was gone. Elizabeth's spontaneous wanderlust was a normal part of their relationship. During the winter of 1935, six months before her death, Elizabeth had apparently disappeared to New York City for two weeks, staying at ritzy hotels along Fifth Avenue and purchasing clothing from the finest stores in Manhattan.

It was during this Manhattan rendezvous that she adopted the name and persona of Mrs. Grace Hurley of Boston, racking up an $1,100 bill. 1935 is smack in the middle of the Great Depression, and in today's money, that bill would have cost Robert Friel $21,442.

When the hotel and clothing makers called him up to complete the tab his wife, Mrs. Grace Hurley, had racked up, Robert paid it, no questions asked. Grace Hurley was Elizabeth Friel's favorite persona.

He said his vivacious wife had a love for life, and despite her nervous disorder and eccentric behavior, she wouldn't have killed herself. He told the press, I think she was murdered. She was probably attacked by some person wandering through that region, most likely with a motive of robbery. Robert said he knew nothing about her pregnancy or her abortion.

Robert also didn't report her missing because this behavior was common practice for his wife. Why should this time be any different?

Investigators retraced Elizabeth's trip and realized that she didn't make one trip to the area, but two, likely returning home briefly between the trips for more money. She'd first traveled to the area on May 4th, 1936, a few weeks before her later fateful visit, and checked into a well-known hotel near Rutland, Vermont under the name of Grace Hurley.

That same day, she purchased a revolver from the Wyndham Lang hardware store in White River Junction, Vermont.

Her next stop was Whitefield, New Hampshire on May 7th, where she stayed at the Aldrich Hotel for four days before checking out and briefly heading back home to Clinton, Massachusetts. The hotel's owner, Harry Aldrich, recalled her vacant and aloof looks and later told police she seemed to be watching someone or looking for someone as she sat long hours at the front window waiting for someone down the street.

Sometimes, she sat on the second story of the hotel veranda, watching and waiting. He said that she asked a lot of questions about the nearby trails and would disappear for hours at a time on long walks up the railroad tracks or near the mountains. Something that seems totally normal today, but for a bougie middle-aged woman in 1935 wearing heels was a bit odd.

She paid for her room in cash, and as she was leaving on May 11th, she said, I would like to stay longer, but I only have one dress with me and it's dirty. He said that she carried a small overnight suitcase. After returning home for a few days, she left again on May 15th, taking the $50 Robert gave her. This was the last time Robert or her daughters saw her alive.

On Monday, May 18th, around 11 a.m., she checked into the Gates River Apartment Hotel in White River Junction, Vermont. That same day, she returned to the Wyndham Lang store with the revolver she'd purchased on May 4th and exchanged it for the .22 caliber revolver that was later found at the crime scene. She'd claimed the first revolver was malfunctioning, and once again, she identified herself as Grace Hurley.

She then stopped by the Coolidge garage to purchase some cleaning fluid but was told that she needed a can, so she went to the city market and purchased a one-gallon maple syrup can. After that, she got a haircut at Foster's Barbershop nearby and went back to the city market and bought a pound of pressed ham, a box of crackers, and a 10-cent can of fruit salad before returning to her home at the Gates River Hotel sometime in the afternoon.

The following morning, May 19th, Elizabeth left her room early, returning to Coolidge Garage to buy the gallon of cleaning fluid in the syrup can, and returned to her room around 10 a.m. Forty-five minutes later, around 10.45 a.m., she told housekeeping not to change the bedding, since she'd be returning that evening, but Elizabeth never came back.

The attendant said that while she didn't act particularly nervous, there was something suspicious about her. She thought it was strange that Elizabeth told her not to clean the room if she knew she was coming back. She was next seen at a newsstand asking about bus tickets. When she was told there was no bus, she went to the White River Junction train station in Rutland and bought a ticket for Greenfield, Massachusetts that left at 11.42 a.m.

While at the train station, there seemed to be a man either traveling with her or following her. Witnesses later recalled that he maintained a steady distance but watched her every move. He chatted with her briefly and they boarded at the same time, even sharing the same seat, though the train was fairly empty with only about 15 passengers.

When questioned, the train conductor said he didn't pay any particular attention to any of the passengers and that he didn't notice any strange behavior. The man was about 6 feet tall with white hair and around 50 years old and police put out a call to find him for questioning. They both got off at the Brattleboro stop and Elizabeth stayed the night at another hotel under her favorite pseudonym.

Police searched for this mystery man without success, thinking that he could possibly hold the key to this tangled mystery. Could it be this man was following her? Her sudden disappearance from the White River Junction Hotel that same morning could be an indicator that she was trying to elude someone. Police also believed the purchase of the gun strengthened the theory that she may have been in danger.

On Wednesday, May 20th, Elizabeth checked out of the Brattleboro Hotel. A fire atop the nearby mountain, Mount Wontasticate, started that Wednesday, and a day later, on Thursday, May 21st, Elizabeth's remains were discovered by authorities, trying to ascertain the origins of the mysterious forest fire. Mount Wontasticate, also known as Rattlesnake Hill, is

is technically in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, but it's right next to Brattleboro, Vermont. Just a long walk or a short taxi ride over the New Hampshire state line.

Some witnesses later recalled seeing a woman with a suitcase near the base of the mountain around the time that she would have been there. County Solicitor Arthur Olson, who was the head of the investigation, told the press, We would like to know where Mrs. Friel was from the time she left home on May 15th until May 18th when she registered at the White River Junction Hotel. It might help us in our search for her killer.

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Other than the elusive white-haired man from the train station, police had zero leads on a potential suspect. Olson was convinced it was a murder, possibly the work of a robber or a degenerate.

This story was front-page news in papers all around the entire New England region. Charred corpse found in fire. Torch victim identified as rich utility man's wife. Hunt secret love of wife killed on pyre. Hunt gigolo in pyre death of erratic wife.

bought oil for her own pyre. It appeared in Boston papers, New York City papers, and all the way up to Bangor, Maine. The region was buzzing with discussion of this perplexing case.

A barber in a small southern coastal town in Maine had a couple of men come in for cuts, and when he overheard some of their private conversation, he was convinced that they were up to no good. One was apparently telling the other that he needed to hit the back roads and get away. They drove away in a dusty coupe, similar to the one seen at the mountain with New Hampshire license plates.

Police identified the two men, who were ex-convicts and known to authorities as illegal trappers, and learned that they had been temporarily living in a cabin only about one mile from the crime scene. According to the barber, one of the men even had a burn on the side of his face, but nothing ever came from their search for the men.

Investigators hired renowned Massachusetts pathologist Dr. George Burgess McGrath to figure out the exact cause of death. At the time, he was waiting to testify for a murder trial. So in the meantime, investigators returned to the crime scene, hoping to find something that could give them insight.

Like I mentioned earlier, the trail up to the peak of Mount Wontasticate wasn't maintained like it is today, but it wasn't an impossible hike. It was used in the early 1900s as a carriage road, and despite a little bit of overgrowth, it was still passable. One journalist even humorously quipped it could be passed by a one-legged man.

Where Elizabeth's body was found, however, was several hundred feet off the trail, and getting to the location required a lot of ducking and winding around thick forest and navigation of a dry creek bed. When she was found, she was laying on top of a small tin that contained about a dozen partially burned wooden matches, and about a dozen discharged bullets were embedded about three to four inches into the dirt underneath her chest.

There were also about nine spent shell casings surrounding her. Both of her femurs and wrists were broken, and there was damage done to the back of her skull that appeared to be two holes.

A brand new flashlight and four batteries along with their receipt were found inside a brown paper bag found a few feet from her body. The receipt was from a nearby store in Brattleboro, Fishman's Five and Dime. The day and time indicated on the receipt was Wednesday, May 20th, the day of the fire.

Investigators went to the store and learned that the flashlight had been purchased by a young man. The store clerk, Lillian Wolfe, wasn't able to give a good description of the man who'd purchased them. Who was this man and how was he connected to the victim? Several empty beer bottles and bottle caps were found in the vicinity, as well as a shiny new bottle opener.

The search for any kind of murder weapon that could have caused blunt force trauma to the back of her head was unsuccessful. Elizabeth's upper dentures were found about 12 feet from the body. Her lower ones were about 15 feet away. The syrup can was found 25 feet away.

Her suitcase was laying on top of her body, mostly burned from the fire. Detectives were able to lift a few prints from the syrup can and sent them to Washington, D.C. for analysis.

According to Captain Charles Van Amburg, a ballistics expert for the Massachusetts State Police, the fully loaded .22 revolver that Elizabeth purchased hadn't actually been fired. The bullets lodged in the earth under her body must have been from another gun. Though

Though it is possible the empty shells nearby could have exploded from the fire, it seems highly unlikely that they would have ended up in such a tight grouping, which begs the question, who fired these shots into the ground?

Due to the condition of her body, police were unable to tell if she'd been shot before the fire. Another unanswered question concerned the oil-filled syrup can. Why had Elizabeth purchased and filled it herself? It contained a gasoline-kerosene combination that was commonly used for cleaning solution in the 1930s.

It was flammable, but not as volatile or potentially explosive as gasoline alone. It was suggested that she could have used the fluid to clean her dress, which then accidentally caught fire, but I'm not sure why she wouldn't have just cleaned it at the hotel instead of a thousand feet up a mountain.

Investigators believed that it was the accelerant used to fuel the blaze on the mountain, but they were confused as to how her body could have burned so completely as the cleaning liquid is slow burning. They said that the liquid would have had to have been poured on her almost continuously for an entire hour. Police were mystified. They could find no apparent motive for her crime.

The fact that Elizabeth purchased the gun, syrup can, and cleaning fluid that were all found at the crime scene suggested that she possibly hiked the mountain with suicide in mind. But the medical examiner insisted that her cause of death was from a cranial hemorrhage that resulted in a fracture at the base of her skull, that this injury was caused by a person other than Elizabeth herself.

After visiting the potential crime scene, Vermont State Detective Almo Franzoni and Police Chief Howard LeDuc of Brattleboro stated that there was no question in their mind that Elizabeth had died by suicide. The hardest piece of evidence to crack was figuring out how the blunt force trauma happened to the back of her head. Olson insisted it was done by another person.

But Franzoni pointed out that there was a jagged rock protruding from the ground, about a foot from the spot where Elizabeth's head had landed. He suggested that she could have fallen backward while seated and hit her head on the rock.

Franzoni's theory is that after Elizabeth climbed the mountain with her suitcase and the can of gasoline, that she sat on the ground and set the gun out, emptied the liquid onto herself, and threw the can aside 25 feet before setting her clothing on fire with the intention of using the gun immediately. But the flames caused her to fall backward instead.

and then she hit her head on the sharp point of the rock that ultimately killed her before the fire did. But what about the dentures that were found 12 and 15 feet away from her body? A New Hampshire state pathologist stated that in his experience with suicide, that he's known of people removing their teeth and tossing them aside before death.

When asked about the flashlight that was purchased the same day by a mystery man and found nearby, Franzoni stated that there was no confirmed connection between Elizabeth and the buyer of the flashlight and it could be a total coincidence, though it is peculiar that Elizabeth wasn't found on a well-traveled path.

Perhaps most importantly, it was determined that her gun had never been fired. Whose rounds were those in the earth under her body?

From day one, the New Hampshire State Medical Examiner, Dr. Arthur Weston and Arthur Olson, disagreed with all theories of suicide. Dr. Weston stated that she died from a fractured skull that was caused by a blunt instrument. There were two blows at the base of her skull in the shape of an oval. One was about an inch long and the other an inch and a half.

He discounted the suggestion that she may have fallen by pointing out that if this did indeed happen, she would have actually hit her head a few inches above where the wounds were located. Both argued that she was probably unconscious or dead when the fire that nearly cremated her started, and pointed out that her suitcase was probably added to the fire to destroy evidence, and her dentures may have been lost in a struggle.

He told the press, "Death was caused by intercranial hemorrhage as a result of the broken blows on the region of the back of the head. There was no bullet wound in any part of the body. Death was caused before the burning as indicated by the blood. The breaks in the arms and legs were traced to the heat, which caused contraction. This explained the broken arms and legs."

He acknowledged the puzzling aspects of this case that pointed towards suicide. The fact that she bought the gas and the gun and wasn't seen with anyone else walking up the mountain. He suggested that it was possible she had planned a suicide, but the trauma of the skull dispelled the possibility. He told press, "'It's a murder, and I don't care what anybody thinks.'"

That blow on the head couldn't have been self-inflicted. Furthermore, Robert Friel, Elizabeth's husband, also didn't believe that his wife would have taken her own life. Authorities had waited patiently for the opinion of renowned Massachusetts pathologist Dr. George Burgess McGrath. He described the Elizabeth Friel case as the most extraordinary and fantastic in my experience.

He said that she may have intended suicide, but that a suicide theory is at odds with the medical facts, stating the skull fracture could not have resulted from a fall, nor could it have been self-inflicted. He conceded that though the damage to her skull could have been caused by her falling or even from the heat of the fire, it was almost certainly from the force of another human being.

Investigators continued the search for suspects, looking through all the camps along the eight-mile stretch of the Connecticut River, but they betrayed no trace of recent occupancy.

In June of 1936, a manhunt was on to find 45-year-old Louis Stone, a fugitive from Merrimack County Farm Hospital where he'd been committed. On Thursday, June 11th, while being held at the county jail, Louis told authorities that he'd killed a woman in Massachusetts. He then said he piled wood on top of her body and burned it.

He also admitted that he was in the area of New Hampshire the day of Elizabeth's death. Lewis was described in the papers as a "chattering maniac" and was arrested for Elizabeth's murder. Authorities were amazed at his confession and sent him to Merrimack Hospital for observation, where, shortly after breakfast the following day, he escaped.

He was captured three days later and taken into custody as he was walking alongside the highway towards Concord State Capitol, 18 and a half miles from the hospital. A New Hampshire state investigator questioned Lewis, but didn't put much faith in what he'd said, saying, "Stone couldn't explain anything to satisfaction and told 15 to 20 different stories, but kept insisting he'd burned a body on a mountain."

They learned that Lewis had served in World War I and described him as a shell-shocked veteran, likely suffering from PTSD and detached from reality.

Investigators met with Lillian Wolfe, the clerk at the store where the flashlight found on the mountain was sold, and asked if she recognized him as the man who bought it, but she didn't. Lewis was held briefly on a vagrancy charge, but Olson requested that he be released, saying he was confident that Lewis had no connection with the case.

A month later, in July of 1936, 24-year-old Charles LeCrow, who was picked up for public drunkenness, gave the police more to worry about when he spouted off knowledge of the murder of Elizabeth Friel.

Charles was sobering up in his cell when he told authorities that while he was an inmate at a New Hampshire prison, his then cellmate gave him advice on getting rid of somebody and told him that a good way to get rid of a woman would be to apply the torch to her. He claimed that he had told him a story about a woman who had talked too much, so he poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire.

He told police that he met up with his former cellmate after his discharge from jail in 1933, and they visited various camps in New Hampshire and Massachusetts together. It was on one of these trips that the man told him about the woman he'd claimed to have killed.

He later recanted his story, saying he didn't remember anything he'd told them and ultimately served 10 days in jail for drunkenness, but wasn't held for any reasons relating to Elizabeth's death. "I hope to one day visit Mount Wontasticate. It looks beautiful, and I'm comforted to know that it's no longer overrun by hordes of venomous snakes."

I looked it up online and found some beautiful photos of the trails. Many young oak trees line the trail, no more than 20 years old, and I wonder if another fire, much more recent, didn't claim the lives of many of the trees, making way for these new saplings.

Hardy conifers endure the hard winters on the exposed rocky outcroppings of the summit, adding layer upon layer of armor over their pulpy cores. Visitors flock to the mountain in the long summer with their families. And finally, most beautiful of all, the mountain transforms into a painting of yellows, oranges, and fiery reds.

What was once new is now old, and what was once old is new again. I've scoured the digital newspaper archives and Elizabeth Friel drops off the map in January of 1937, less than a year after her tragic end.

Just another piece of local history beginning its long path to oblivion. I imagine the course that it took. Front page news fades to last year's big case, melts into that weird case that happened decades ago, settles into history, and finally forgotten.

The last mention of this case in the papers comes in 1966 in the Brattleboro Reformer. It was an update that made me feel a little sad for Elizabeth. The clipping talked about how challenging and mysterious the case was, how it defied the efforts of everyone involved, but it was the paper that had the last word on the case. After 30 years, it doesn't matter much now.

The case must be near the bottom of the dead file. But here we are in 2021, 85 winters later, and after laying dormant for 55 years, today, Elizabeth Friel's story is reborn. ♪

I want to thank you so much for listening. I am so grateful that you chose to tune in and I couldn't be here without you. Thank you. I have a lot of thoughts about this case and if you'd like to discuss this case with me and other listeners, sign up for the mailing list for an invite to the Murder She Told secret Facebook group.

My sources for this episode include the Brattleboro Reformer, the New York Daily News, the Cincinnati Inquirer, the Burlington Daily News, the Boston Globe, the Rutland Daily Herald, the Bangor Daily News, and the North Adams Transcript. All links for sources can be found on MurderSheTold.com linked in the show notes.

Special thanks to Byron Willis for his writing support. If you loved this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend or leaving a nice review on Apple Podcasts. It's one of the best ways to support an indie podcast. If you're a descendant of the victim or anyone related to this story, you're more than welcome to reach out to me at murdershetoldpod at gmail.com. If you have a story that needs to be told or would like to suggest one, I would love to hear from you.

My only hope is that I've honored your stories and keeping the names of your family and friends alive. Murder, She Told will be back next week with another episode. I'm Kristen Sevey, and this is Murder, She Told. Thank you for listening.