"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out of a Word of it."
-Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The What: In Circleville, Ohio starting in 1976 a much of anonymous threatening and concerning letters were sent to the homes of residence. One resident, Mary Gillespie, was made a particular target. The letters were accusing her of having an affair, which at the time she stated was not true. (She later admitted to having an affair, but it had ended before she received her first letter). However the letters did not stop. She made her husband, Ron, aware of what was going on. One day, in August of 1977, he received a phone call. After talking on the phone with someone, he told his family he knew who their tormentor was, grabbed his pistol, and sped away in his truck. His truck flew off the road and struck a tree and he was killed. Laters tests show his blood alcohol limit was well over the legal limit and results showed he had fired his pistol once before the accident.
Suspects: One day Mary noticed a sign threatening the life of one of her children. She went to take the sign down and noticed with was attached to a booby trapped gun (meaning if she had taken the sign down, it would have shot her). Paul Freshour, Ron's brother in law, was traced to the gun. After further handwriting analysis, Freshour's handwriting was matched to well over 400 of the letters, however the sheriff later admitted on the stand that Freshour was instructed to write in block letters and told to copy the original letters. He was arrested and sent to prison for attempted murder. Freshour denied any connection to the letters and the attempt on Mary's life, even after being sent to prison.
And still the letters continued for another 25 years.
My Thoughts: This sounds like an Agatha Christie novel, The Moving Finger to be more specific. Right down to the false affair accusations. The most logical part of my brain says Paul Freshour developed some sort of obsession with Mary Gillespie. However, what would have to gain from that?
There is apart of me that thinks Paul was a fall guy. Mary and Ron had believed that Paul was the one writing the letter for a while. But what led them to this? According to Mary, it was Paul's wife Karen who had initially begun to point fingers. But what made them think it was Paul? Paul had nothing to gain from this.
Another bus driver that worked with Mary stated she had driven past the past the spot Mary found the gun about twenty minutes before Mary. She said she saw a man standing there next to a yellow El Comino. When she drove past, the man turned his face away from the road, as though he didn't want to be seen.
First, I think we need to find the owner of this Yellow El Comino. I think I've been able to figure out a source who knows the owner's name and I'm considering reaching out to this person. Second, we need to figure out who else was receiving letters. Over a thousand letters were sent. I definitely think some of them must have been from copy cats and a few bored teens; those need to be weeded out. We need to figure out WHO specifically was the real target of these letters. Was it Mary? Was it Paul? Or was it someone else? Finally, I think working backwards, we should be able to figure out who the letter writer is. I'll for sure be coming back to this one sometime soon.
....Stay Tuned....
Sources and Further Reading:
Unsolved Enigmas: incredible events that have puzzled the greatest minds by Sam Pilger and Leo Moynihan
The Moving Finger Summary/Info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moving_Finger
A great podcast episode on this subject! https://www.darkhistories.com/the-circleville-letters-mystery/
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/7z5nhs/the_bizarre_saga_of_the_circleville_letters_case/
Unsolved Mysteries Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkb0KswsXoc&ab_channel=UnsolvedMysteries-FullEpisodes
Wiki https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Circleville_Writer
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/633984/circleville-letters-unsolved
