Today on Round Robin, we honor Memorial Day through stories of remembrance, Arlington National Cemetery, Decoration Day, Mary Ann Williams, and the quiet power of remembering those who never came home

#MemorialDay #RoundRobinPodcast #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #DecorationDay #PodcastEpisode

Hosted & Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan, Nina Mulligan and Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

In 1976, young pregnant mother Kathryn “Kathy” Darling was murdered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while her 15-month-old child was nearby. Three years later, another pregnant woman, Diane Holloway, was murdered in the same city. For decades, the cases remained unresolved — until the Kent Metro Cold Case Team connected one name across both files: Russell Vane.

In this episode of Malice in the Mitten, Tracy Preston and Christine Mulligan examine the cold-case investigation, the role of DNA evidence, the limits of old investigative tools, and the delayed justice that finally came after more than thirty years. Suggested by listener Becky Vander Meulen, this episode remembers Kathryn Darling and Diane Holloway not as case files, but as women whose lives, families, and futures mattered.

In 1976, young pregnant mother Kathryn “Kathy” Darling was murdered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while her 15-month-old child was nearby. Three years later, another pregnant woman, Diane Holloway, was murdered in the same city. For decades, the cases remained unresolved — until the Kent Metro Cold Case Team connected one name across both files: Russell Vane.

In this episode of Malice in the Mitten, Tracy Preston and Christine Mulligan examine the cold-case investigation, the role of DNA evidence, the limits of old investigative tools, and the delayed justice that finally came after more than thirty years. Suggested by listener Becky Vander Meulen, this episode remembers Kathryn Darling and Diane Holloway not as case files, but as women whose lives, families, and futures mattered.

#MichiganTrueCrime #MaliceInTheMitten #ColdCase #GrandRapids #TrueCrimePodcast

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan

Researched and written by Tracy Preston

Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources:

Wolter, Sally. “Notes from the Field: A Multijurisdictional Team Moved Cold Cases to the Front Burner.” National Institute of Justice, 3 Dec. 2019.

Price, Cynthia. “Cold Case Successes Result from Collaborative Effort.” Grand Rapids Legal News, 29 Apr. 2011.

Public records and reporting vary on the spelling of Kathryn Darling’s name, with some sources using Catherine Darling and others using Kathryn/Kathy Darling. For this episode, we use Kathryn “Kathy” Darling while acknowledging the source variation. This episode relies primarily on the National Institute of Justice account by Detective Sally Wolter and reporting from Grand Rapids Legal News.

Tonight, on F-Bomb Friday, we travel to Marquette, Michigan, for the haunting legend of the Lilac Lady — a ghostly figure said to linger near the sixth floor of the historic Landmark Inn.

Her story is one of love, loss, Lake Superior, and the scent of lilacs drifting through an old hotel where guests have reported strange phone calls, footsteps, cold spots, and sightings of a woman who may still be waiting for someone who never came home.

This is not a monster story. It is a ghost story built from grief, memory, and the kind of folklore that refuses to die.

#FBombFriday #MichiganFolklore #LilacLady #MarquetteMichigan #HauntedMichigan

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Todd Preston

Story Researched and Written by Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for F-Bomb by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources:

“12 Incredibly Haunted Places in the Upper Peninsula.” Pure Michigan, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, n.d., michigan.org. Accessed 21 May 2026.

Best Haunted Hotels. “Landmark Inn Paranormal History.” Best Haunted Hotels, n.d., besthauntedhotels.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“Central Upper Peninsula Hauntings.” Northern Michigan History, n.d., northernmichiganhistory.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“Haunted Places in Marquette County.” Travel Marquette, n.d., travelmarquette.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“Haunted Stories from the Upper Peninsula.” UP Travel, n.d., uptravel.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

James, Sheryl. Michigan Legends: Folktales and Lore from the Great Lakes State. University of Michigan Press, press.umich.edu.

“Lilac Scented Memories.” Mackinac State Historic Parks, n.d., mackinacparks.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“The Ghost of the Lilac Room: Marquette, Michigan.” 99.1 WFMK, n.d., 99wfmk.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“The Lilac Lady.” Malice in the Mitten, n.d.

“Michigan Urban Legends.” My Michigan Beach & Travel, n.d., mymichiganbeach.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“Michigan’s Ghostly Tales Not for the Faint of Heart.” My City Magazine, n.d., mycitymag.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

“Urban Legends, Haunted Hotspots, and Ghost Sightings in Michigan.” The Gander, n.d., gandernewsroom.com. Accessed 21 May 2026.

Have you ever had a moment so weird it felt like reality glitched? This week on Round Robin, we’re talking déjà vu, impossible coincidences, missing objects, gut feelings, and the stories we still can’t explain.

#RoundRobinPodcast #GlitchInTheMatrix #DejaVu #WeirdButTrue #PodcastLife

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan, Nina Mulligan and my husband Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

In 1991, seventeen-year-old Christa Lynne Ruth Ferree, a Harper Creek High School junior from Battle Creek, Michigan, left home to visit someone she knew. She never came back.

Days later, Christa’s body was found hundreds of miles away near Clinton, Oklahoma. She had been strangled. Three teenagers — Thomas Eugene Krause II, John Seeley Loepke Jr., and Brad Trevor Warner — were convicted in her murder and originally sentenced to life without parole. Decades later, because they had been juveniles at the time of the crime, all three were resentenced to 40 to 60 years, reopening painful questions about punishment, rehabilitation, second chances, and the life Christa never got to live.

This episode of Malice in the Mitten tells Christa’s story with care: who she was, how she is remembered, the betrayal that led to her death, the long road from Battle Creek to Oklahoma, and the legal aftermath that brought her case back into court nearly three decades later.

Listener note: Thank you to Jessica Elliott for suggesting Christa’s story and helping bring her name back into the light.

#MaliceInTheMitten #MichiganTrueCrime #ChristaFerree #BattleCreekMichigan #TrueCrimePodcast

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan

Researched and written by Tracy Preston

Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources include WWMT News Channel 3 reporting on the 2019 resentencing’s, WBCK coverage of the Battle Creek murder case, MDOC OTIS records, the Harper Creek Educational Foundation Christa Ferree Scholarship Fund, Find a Grave memorial records, The Oklahoman April 1991 article excerpt, and Battle Creek Enquirer obituary/article clippings reviewed during research. Some archival newspaper records are subscription-limited; unsupported secondary retellings were treated as leads only and were not included as verified fact unless supported by additional sourcing.

On this episode of F-Bomb Friday, we step into one of the most unsettling paranormal mysteries whispered across Michigan: Shadow People. From haunted roads near Ypsilanti to abandoned hospitals, frozen farmhouses, Upper Peninsula mining ruins, cemeteries, and lonely back roads, witnesses describe the same impossible thing — black, human-shaped figures standing in the dark, watching.

Are they ghosts? Sleep paralysis? Demons? Interdimensional beings? Or are Shadow People the shape our minds give to fear itself?This haunting Michigan folklore episode explores the Hat Man, the Watchers, shadow figures in the woods, and the terrifying feeling that something is standing just out of sight… waiting for you to notice it.

#ShadowPeople#MichiganFolklore#FBombFriday#TheHatMan#ParanormalMichigan

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Todd Preston

Written and researched by Todd Prest

Original music created exclusively for F-bomb by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sound Effect from Uppbeat: horror-scream-in-abandoned-place(Long).mp3

Sources:

Pure Michigan – Haunted Places in Michigan

Michigan Haunted Houses – Real Haunted Places Across Michigan

Shadowlands Haunted Places Index – Michigan

GhostQuest – Haunted Places Michigan

Haunts.com – Michigan Haunted Places

Wikipedia – Shadow Person Phenomenon

Reddit – Soop Cemetery Shadow Figure Reports

Reddit – Michigan Urban Legends Discussion

Reddit – Hat Man Experiences

Reddit – Childhood Hat Man Encounter Originally From Michigan

Reddit – Michigan Shadow Visitors Encounter

USC Folklore Archive – Sleep Paralysis & The Hat Man

In this episode of Round Robin, Tracy Preston and the crew dive into the strange world of nightmares — where sleep science, medieval folklore, psychology, and the supernatural all collide. From the eerie origin of the word “nightmare” to old beliefs about demons sitting on sleeping chests, recurring dreams, teeth falling out, shadow people, sleep paralysis, and the shared nightmare experiences humans have reported across cultures, this mosaic episode explores why the mind terrifies itself after dark. Plus, the Woman of the Week honors Mary Shelley, the brilliant author of Frankenstein, whose own waking nightmare helped shape horror and science fiction forever.

#RoundRobinPodcast #Nightmares #SleepParalysis #MaryShelley #MaliceInTheMitten

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine Mulligan, Nina Mulligan and Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Janet Chandler was 22 years old. A student, a musician, and a young woman searching for her place in the world.

In 1979, her life was taken in Holland, Michigan—and for nearly 30 years, no one was held accountable.

This episode of Malice in the Mitten examines Janet’s life, the environment surrounding the Blue Mill Inn, and the group dynamics that led to one of Michigan’s most disturbing cold cases.

When a college documentary reopened the investigation decades later, the silence finally began to break.

This is Janet’s story—told with care, clarity, and respect.

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan.

Story researched and written by Tracy Preston

Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

#JanetChandler #TrueCrimePodcast #MichiganTrueCrime #ColdCaseSolved #JusticeForJanet

Sources:

28 Years Later, Justice for Slain Student.” CBS News, 13 Mar. 2007.

McVicar, Brian. “Janet Chandler Murder Case Revisited.” MLive.

“Cold Case: Janet Chandler.” The Legal News.

Who Killed Janet Chandler? Directed by David Schock, Hope College, 2004.

“Documentary Examines Murder of Student.” Hope College News Archive, 2004.

“Student Documentary Reopens Murder Investigation.” Hope College News, 2004.