Indiana: John Hubbard and the Bones in the Basement

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast

Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins

History, True Crime, Society & Culture

4.5 • 992 Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a chilling one-off episode of Foul Play: Crime Series, "John Hubbard, The Bones in the Basement," Shane takes listeners on a journey into a dark chapter of Wabash, Indiana's history. The episode unfolds with a startling discovery made in the basement of the Wabash County Historical Museum, where an unassuming box reveals the remains of John Hubbard, a mid-19th-century serial killer.

The narrative begins as Shane, exploring the old museum, stumbles upon this eerie relic and seeks to examine the story behind it. He sits down with a local historian to examine into the sinister tale of John Hubbard, who, in a macabre twist of fate, murdered the French family and then audaciously took over their home and possessions.

The episode vividly recounts the events leading up to the discovery of the French family's bodies, hidden beneath the floorboards of their own house. As the historian guides Shane through the grim details of the case, they discuss Hubbard's motivations and the methods he used to commit such heinous crimes in an era long before modern forensic science.

Listeners are taken through the aftermath of the murders, including the investigation, Hubbard's eventual capture, and the trial that followed. The episode also explores the broader social and historical context of the 1850s in Indiana, providing insights into how such a crime could have unfolded and been resolved during that period.

This episode is not just a recounting of a forgotten crime; it's a deep dive into the psyche of a serial killer and a reflection on the evolution of criminal investigation techniques. The discovery of the bones in the museum basement serves as a haunting reminder of the past's proximity and the stories that lie hidden in the shadows of history.

For those intrigued by this macabre tale and seeking more information, visit itsfoulplay.com. Join Shane in "John Hubbard, The Bones in the Basement" as he uncovers the forgotten story of a serial killer and the legacy he left behind, buried beneath the floorboards. Our Sponsors: * Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com * Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm going to Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm T.J. Honeycutt. I'm the Collections Assistant for the Wabash County Historical Museum.
0:36.0	Downstairs area used to be a mortuary for the Jones funeral home and you would go down the steps.
0:42.0	They turn 90 degrees several times, and then you end up in this limestone
0:46.9	basement. And we've packed it with artifacts. There are shelves all around you. It's not quite the end of the
0:55.5	Indiana Jones and the Les Crusade where they've got the boxes of stuff. We're not
1:00.0	quite to that level. But it's the same concept, row after row of stuff and duct work.
1:06.6	It's dark down there, it's quite dark.
1:09.1	Light switches are in no logical place, so you'll be down there in the dark with no idea where you are or where you're going.
1:15.2	There's the original embalming pit. In the olden days when they embalmed a body they would usually
1:20.9	put the body on this rack that moved up and down. they would
1:25.0	initially put the body on this rack that moved up and down. And so you would initially begin the embalming
1:28.0	by cutting into the body to drain it.
1:32.0	And you would let all of the fluids just naturally drain out of the body into this pit and then when you were all done you would bring the body up out of the pit on this hydraulic lift to so that you didn't have to go down into the pit.
1:49.0	The walls of the building still maintain that creepy mortuary look where it's like a stone archway who
1:56.1	of the old stone work so it definitely has this is a place where dead bodies are prepared feel to it still.
2:05.0	So eventually you walk down next to our HVAC system, which is a huge gigantic boiler and air conditioning unit essentially and there are these little
2:15.1	white boxes two of them and they're labeled on one side Hubbard bones with the
2:22.3	Hubbard bones accession number on them.
2:25.0	And the first thing you'll see is a human looking up at you.
2:30.0	We're going to be talking about the murderer John Hubbard today.
2:36.0	So the world was quite a bit different when this murder took place.
2:38.8	Usually now if you watch something like 48 hours, we've got cell phone footage and different pictures and DNA evidence
	...

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