Season 3 Episode 4: Ron, Mary, Karen & Paul

Marie (00:18):

In the long course of a day everyone will face down their own unique assortment of pet peeves. We smile through gritted teeth when interacting with other people who grate on our nerves, the neighbor who still has their Christmas decorations up in March, the coworker who microwaves fish sticks repeatedly.

Marie (00:38):

The majority of us weave through these minor annoyances and by the end of the day we're relatively unphased, accepting that we get to do it all again the following morning. Largely, we've learned to forgive and forget.

Marie (00:51):

But for someone like Circleville's anonymous letter writer, their mind snags on one of these small perceived slights and everything after that unravels. Something about the normal daily wear and tear isn't so easily shrugged off but, instead, runs on repeat, constantly a fresh wound, never fading.

Marie (01:09):

What sort of person would write and send a threatening anonymous letter? What lived in the mind of the Circleville letter writer that made them pick up a pencil, some paper, and a 13 cent stamp and begin to poison their community with so much hate that we remember it almost 50 years later, with an intent and commitment not just to try it once or a couple of times with just a few letters, but thousands of them over a decade. To hide in plain sight, amongst their friends, family, neighbors, never letting on to under that ordinary veneer they were capable of so much malice.

Marie (01:43):

The Circleville letter writer did not believe in forgive and forget. Their conviction put them on a very different path. But what finally made them put down their pen and pick up a gun?

Marie (02:08):

Thank you for listening to the Whatever Remains podcast. I'm your host, Marie Mayhew. On this episode, we look at some of the psychological factors that make up anonymous letter writers and start to look at who, in this small town, that profile could fit.

Marie (02:28):

The Circleville letters would continue to plague the town through 1977 and into 1983. Over those six years the general tone and tenor of the anonymous communications stayed constant.

Speaker 2 (02:41):

Letter number five, sent March 18th, 1977. No return address. Sent to Westfall High School, attention Vice Principal. Dear School, talk to Gordon Massie about his affairs. I shall warn you, I know the truth. I want to protect your school. It has a good reputation. You should keep it like that. I shall send you proof about driver number 62917. She has a child in school there now. I shall prove this shortly. I expect him then to be discharged. You'll see that I am telling the truth.

Marie (03:33):

At some point in this timeframe this anonymous letter writer graduated from just threatening individuals in the mail to actually trying to kill one. But the target was not Gordon Massie, the focus of the letters early on, but Mary Gillespie, the woman the writer accused of having an affair with Massie.

Marie (03:50):

We'll go into the attempted murder in a later episode in detail. But really, above everything else, we should try to understand the kind of person that would make this type of anonymous threat. An anonymous threat can take many different guises and as many different intents. A bomb threat phoned into an office building is different in its nature than say cyber-bullying on social media. Anonymous letters can usually be classified into categories according to their theme or tone. For example, threatening, obscene, racial, extortion, nuance, stool pigeon, or guilty conscience.

Marie (04:27):

Anonymous letters may sometimes be further divided into those that relay a general message, those that carry a personal or specific message, and those that are sent to a certain group of individuals, businesses, or people. The one thing that all of these categories share is the anonymous letter writer suffers from a condition that can be very difficult to detect.

Marie (04:48):

Renna Nezos writes, in Judicial Graphology, that this type of personality is socially maladjusted and suffers from acute feelings of persecution and excessive jealousy. They can become quarrelsome, reluctant to admit fault, and have set opinions.

Marie (05:04):

Now, I realize this sounds like a lot of people, myself included. The main difference to keep in mind is that there's a continuum. Normal behavior of it includes individual biases to suffering from afflictions where these behaviors become so extreme they govern over all other emotions and reason.

Marie (05:21):

Anonymous letter writers are prone to become adversarial, make situations needlessly more difficult by engineering arguments. When a confrontation arises, this type of personality will use coercion in order to persuade other people to take their sides, not wishing to take blame themselves. This behavior can mask feelings of personal inadequacy and is often coupled with feelings of mistrust and paranoia.

Marie (05:46):

By transferring their own anxiety onto others, the anonymous letter writer feels justification and a sense of security in their actions. The need to exhort power drives the anonymous letter writer to manipulate their selected victims actions and thoughts. Their correspondence may be planned with care to hit the target and then they may retreat into hiding to await the results.

Marie (06:11):

With their identities hidden, people will indulge in marginal behavior they wouldn't normally allow themselves, according to psychologist Roland Maiuro, an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, and editor of The Journal of Violence and Victims. Disinhibition lowers behavioral constraints normally felt during more personal interactions.

Marie (06:32):

An anonymous person doesn't want to be held accountable, Maiuro says. Being anonymous breeds aggressive behavior. They can be a tyrant in their own home, ruling the household with their set routine and views. Socially, however, in the rest of the world, their self confidence is often very fragile and they can be perceived as compliant or overly agreeable people.

Marie (06:54):

Maiuro continues, the psychological profile of an anonymous threatener is a person who is obsessive, who may be fixated on a public figure, have delusional ideas about the individual, or has targeted him or her as responsible for something particularly bad. They can especially attach importance to the idea of respectability, or what is considered respectable behavior.

Marie (07:16):

Threateners often believe that they are righting a wrong. They see their behavior as altruistic, Maiuro says. The letter writer often feels weak or helpless. This person perceives the public figure as powerful, the perpetrator of the threateners problems.

Marie (07:33):

What has been found to be true about anonymous letter writers is that they are generally not openly disagreeable people and continue to socialize and function normally. They generally do not behave in an obviously odd or bizarre manner. Their emotional life, however, is not satisfying. And they may have recently been severely disappointed or disillusioned. Examples of this could be not receiving an inheritance or being passed over for promotion.

Marie (07:59):

The anonymous letter writer probably lives in the same area as their target and will have some way of witnessing or even interacting with the victim's reaction to their distressing letter. They often tend to be inconsequential people to their target. The writer may be a member of the family, an unnoticed employee, a slighted friend, or a neighbor who has never been noticed before by their victim.

Marie (08:22):

So what does this tell us about the Circleville letter writer? To start, they feel justified in making these accusations about Gordon Massie and the Gillespies. They see their actions as altruistic in calling out Gordon Massie. They're righting a wrong by seeking his dismissal.

Marie (08:39):

Massie, a school superintendent in a small town, is a relatively known public figure. He was written about in the local newspapers on a fairly frequent basis. The letter writer perceives Massie as the perpetrator of the threatener and, really, all of Circleville's problems. In the writer's righteous indignation he's an adulterer, or worse, a predator that needs to be dealt with.

Marie (09:03):

The Circleville letter writer is secure in their actions and definitely has attached importance to respectability, or what is considered respectable behavior. Outwardly, they would be seemingly agreeable and normal. Because anonymous letters are a symptom of feeling powerless, the Circleville letter writer may have believed that they were overlooked, taken for granted, or just not being heard. They could have been triggered to start writing these letters by some recent loss or some severe disappointment.

Marie (09:35):

If this background holds true then the Circleville letter writer would have known Gordon Massie, or the Gillespies, or had some connection with the school district. They would have been able to involve themselves in the emotional aftermath that the letters caused, maybe as a member of the family, a friend, or another teacher.

Marie (09:55):

So then, who were Gordon Massie and Mary Gillespie's family, friends, and coworkers? Gordon Massie, the Westfall School Superintendent was the original recipient of the letters. Massie was accused of sexual harassment and having affairs with bus drivers that worked in his district. He had worked in local Ohio education since graduating college, was married to Clara Clegg, also an educator, and had one son, William.

Marie (10:24):

When the letters started in the late '70s, William, his son, would have been a late teen or in his early 20's. Mary Gillespie, the focus of the letters as time went on, was one of these bus drivers accused of having an affair with Massie. In 1977 she had been working in this position for a number of years. She was married to her husband, Ron Gillespie, and they had two children, Tracey and Eric.

Marie (10:52):

Her husband, Ron Gillespie, came from a good sized family and had a sister, Karen Sue, who lived in nearby Columbus with her husband, Paul Freshour and their two daughters, Dawn and Senna, and a son, Mark. In the mid-1970's the relationship between these two families, the Gillespies and the Freshour 's, comes mostly through first hand accounts in court transcripts, or through newspapers that reported on the story at the time.

Marie (11:20):

As we mentioned, Mary Gillespie was a bus driver for the Westfall School District. In the 1970's, this would be a secure position since many rural families would rely on busing to get their kids to school. Her husband, Ron, worked at Pittsburgh Plate Glass.

Marie (11:36):

Karen Sue Freshour , Ron's sister, worked for the U.S. Trotting Association, based out of Columbus. That's a nonprofit organization involved in horse racing. There she worked in the microfilm department. She was also good with numbers and helped them with finances. Her husband, Paul, worked as a Quality Control Inspector at the Anheuser Busch plant in Columbus. Both couples were gainfully employed, earning what would be considered a solid, middle class income for the time. They owned their own homes. Their children attended public school. The point being, both of these families were very normal.

Marie (12:14):

According to Mary, both her and her husband had a very close relationship with Karen Sue. Mary describes that they got along fairly well with her but less so with her husband, Paul. In court transcripts, Mary describes the relationship between Paul and her husband, Ron, as amicable but not especially good. However, when asked if Paul Freshourmade a habit out of minding his own business, Mary flatly answers, no. When opposing counsel asked her if she got along with him fairly well, she only offers back a lukewarm, I suppose.

Marie (12:49):

Mary Gillespie is answering these questions during the trial where Paul Freshouris accused of trying to kill her so it is possible that that is coloring her opinion. However, she also testified that she never felt threatened by Paul and he never asked about her relationship with Gordon Massie. We'll talk about that trial in later episodes. But for right now, it's important to understand that this is really the only information we have about how Mary felt about her relatives.

Marie (13:17):

In the court transcripts, it appears that Mary has known Paul for a long time. At that point, more than 20 years. And did not think that he was capable of any significant level of violence. And certainly not the level of animosity that was displayed in the letters. She communicated with him about receiving the letters and the concern they caused her and her family.

Marie (13:37):

But she also does not seem to have a very close relationship to the Freshour 's, or at least to Paul. She is very clear about her and her husband being close to Karen Sue but only amicable with Paul. Amicable is a pretty distant way of describing a relationship, especially one about knowing your brother-in-law for over 20 years. Again granted, he's on trial for trying to kill her. But you could argue that she should even have more heated words and be more upset. Your close family member tried to kill you. Someone you've known and trusted for a long time. But what Mary said was, for both her and her husband, the relationship was amicable, but not especially good.

Marie (14:17):

Mary's distance comes in sharp contrast to how Paul Freshour , himself, describes his relationship with Ron and Mary. In most written accounts Paul said that he considered Ron to be his best friend and commiserated about the terrible stress that these letters put on the Gillespie family, especially the toll that they took on Ron.

Speaker 2 (14:40):

Letter number 11. Sent April 14th, 1977. Return address, 550 Ridgewood, Circleville, Ohio. Sent to Mr. Ron Gillespie. Attention Ron. Gillespie, you have had two weeks and done nothing. You are a pig defender. You are also a pig. Make her admit the trust and inform the school board. If not, I will broadcast it on posters, signs, billboards until the truth comes out. Only pigs ride motorcycles. Good hunting in your red and white truck on your way to work.

Speaker 2 (15:32):

Remember, she hung in his office constantly until she broke up his marriage and home. Contact people at school. They're aware. They are starting to laugh and not only at her. Let her read this. It is no lie. She knows I'm telling no lie. I followed him for weeks, since last summer, and have seen her meet him several times. He knew if caught there would be trouble.

Speaker 2 (16:08):

He is not as serious as people think. He isn't concerned about your family, only himself. He can't have affairs with school employees and keep his job. He knows what I want. When he quits I'll go away. All you have to do is talk and ask questions from the people that work there. You will see this is no joke.

Marie (16:38):

Paul Freshour , himself, says of this time period,

Paul (16:41):

Ron was devastated and distraught. He didn't get much sleep during that period of time in his life. He was frantic and would drive around an hour or two in the morning before his shift began, looking for any obscene posted signs. He went out of his way looking for the signs to prevent his daughter, and any other kids on his wife's school bus, from having to see them. Ron worked very hard to figure out what it was really all about and to have the problem solved.

Marie (17:07):

Freshourreports that he initially recommended that Ron take the letters to Dwight Radcliff, the Pickaway County Sheriff. Paul says he assumed that the sheriff would question possible suspects and maybe the obscene letters would stop. According to Freshour , Paul complained,

Paul (17:24):

That the sheriff was not taking these threats seriously and didn't want to be inconvenienced by an investigation of the letters. The sheriff told Ron that he had to spend most of his time on more important investigations, causing Ron to take matters into his own hands. Ron tried desperately to find out who was writing the letters. I helped as much as I could.

Marie (17:45):

Freshouralso said that he became involved in the Gillespie's problems...

Paul (17:50):

... for his nieces sake. Tracey was like one of his own children and spent a great deal of time with his two daughters. But, most importantly, he wanted to help Ron. Ron felt so bad about everything.

Marie (18:02):

Paul would also say the Gillespies believe that they knew who the letter writer was and asked for his help. Mary's plan was to expose them, or to at least to get them to stop. Paul Freshoursaid,

Paul (18:15):

We thought we'd scare the guy. We sent him four or five letters only. There was no violence in them or anything, just that we knew who he was and what he was doing. And we sent him the letters.

Marie (18:25):

The Gillespies and Paul wrote their own anonymous letters to the person they believed was the Circleville letter writer. This event is puzzling, at least to me, and it's worth taking note. It's not completely clear who these letters were sent to or how they were even involved, or how Ron, Mary, and Paul even arrived at this conclusion.

Marie (18:45):

This event took place early in the overall timeline, 1976, before the letters were widely known by the residents of Circleville. The group of people that would have known where Mary worked, her ID for her bus, or who Gordon Massie was would be small. Smaller still would be the group of people that would care if they were actually having an affair and demand that Massie be fired. There has been speculation that the person who sent these letters was William G. Massie, Gordon Massie's son. Some of the later anonymous letters were even signed by Bill Massie.

Marie (19:21):

William Massie was born in 1957 and would have been just 18 or 19 in 1976, when the letters started. He would have just graduated from Circleville High School in 1975 and still living at home with his parents, Gordon and Clara.

Marie (19:37):

Soon, after William Massie's graduation, Clara Massie filed for divorce from Gordon siting alleged gross neglective duty and extreme cruelty. In the context of divorce law, gross neglect refers to a willful failure to perform some marital obligation. For example, in Ohio law a husband and wife owe each other the obligation of mutual respect, fidelity, and support. Case law has interpreted the term to include, among other things, a substantial failure to provide financial support when able to do so, failure to support each other in times of great emotional distress. However, the term gross negligence of duty doesn't have any concrete definition which can be applied to all cases.

Marie (20:22):

In general, cruelty doesn't mean just being mean or disagreeable to your husband or wife. But rather that unnecessary physical or emotional pain is being gratuitously inflicted by one spouse upon another. Incompatible is not getting along and functioning as partners. Cruel and inhumane treatment could involve physical, emotional, and financial abuse, including physical attacks such as beating or gambling away money, unexplained absences from home, dating someone else, or abusing someone in the family.

Marie (20:56):

Clearly the Massie home could have been stressful for a child during this time and William Massie may have had issues with his home life. But for William Massie to be the Circleville letter writer also has some sizable logic flaws. To be the writer he would have had to have had in depth knowledge of other families besides his own, like the Gillespies. He would have had to have known Ron Gillespie's place of employment, the type of car he drove, when he was at home.

Marie (21:22):

If William Massie was the letter writer this would also mean that he was writing and then mailing letters from Columbus on a frequent basis. He would be sending letters to a lot of different people, including his father's supervisors, and calling for immediate termination from his job, all while potentially living under Gordon Massie's roof. Also, the Massie's reconciled and dismissed the divorce in November 1976, six months before the letters started to arrive to Mary Gillespie.

Marie (21:53):

The assumption that William Massie was the letter writer also means that the Gillespies and Paul wrote their own anonymous letters to an 18 year old who was still living with his parents. And this is where I would raise the question, why wouldn't Mary, Ron, and Paul just contact William Massie's parents directly about their concerns? Why write anonymous letters back to William Massie at his parents house. It almost seems equally harmful for adults to anonymously retaliate against a teenager who may not be guilty. It also does not seem like something parents with children would readily do to some other child.

Marie (22:32):

So in early 1977 we have these families, the Gillespies and the Freshour 's, two married couples with children of their own, joined by siblings. Paul's wife, Karen, is Ron Gillespie's sister. And depending on who you ask, they may or may not be close. It may be safest to say that they are amicable and know a good deal about each other's lives. And, in early 1977, Mary, Ron, Karen, and Paul certainly don't have any open ill will towards one another.

Marie (23:03):

But by August of 1977 everything changes when Ron Gillespie, the man Paul Freshour says was torn apart by these accusations, gets a call late one night. Enraged, he picks up a gun, gets in his truck, and drives off. He is not seen alive again or, at least, that's the story that we are led to believe.

Marie (23:24):

Thank you for listening to the Whatever Remains podcast. I'm your host, Marie Mayhew. On our next episode we retrace Ron Gillespie's last night in Circleville and try to understand how what happened at Five Points Pike would come to affect all events in Circleville afterwards.

Speaker 4 (23:41):

(Singing) This town called malice. Who-o-o. This town called malice.

Marie (24:15):

Hey, wanna know what Whatever Remains is getting up to next? Follow us on Twitter @WhateverRemains or online at WhateverRemainsPodcast.com. Be sure to subscribe to the show and give us a five star review on iTunes or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Your reviews do help others to find the show and we adore hearing from our listeners, so please reach out.

Marie (24:39):

Our intro music is by group Rhoda. The closing song for Circleville is performed by Ed Grabianowski, produced by Rich Root. The all-seeing eye, or our logo, is by the super talented Desdemona. This has been a copyright Five Orange Pips production. All rights reserved.