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Criminal

The Ghoul of Grays Harbor

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.738.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Pacific Northwest was said to be terrorized by a serial killer in the early 20th century. Bodies were floating to the surface of the Chehalis and Wishkah Rivers. A local police chief told reporters that he believed that they were dealing with “the greatest murderer of the age.” But the real story was a lot more complex. It’s about myth-making and working conditions, The Sailors' Union of the Pacific, and a man named William Gohl (often called Billy Gohl) who angered the wealthiest and influential people in town: “They saw him as a thorn in their side and as a person who needed to be removed.” Aaron Goings’ book is The Port of Missing Men: Billy Gohl, Labor, and Brutal Times in the Pacific Northwest. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for this show comes from Krakan.

0:03.0

Krypto is like the financial system, but different.

0:07.0

It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,

0:11.0

or your outrageous food delivery habits.

0:13.7

crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time.

0:18.4

Krakhan, see what crypto can be.

0:21.3

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.

0:25.0

This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

0:31.0

In the early 20th century, in an especially rainy part of Washington state, called

0:35.9

Gray's Harbor, bodies started floating to the surface of the Shahelis and Whisker rivers.

0:48.4

Police referred to the bodies as the floater fleet. One paper described what was going on as a reign of terror.

0:53.2

And even today, more than a century later, many people believe the bodies were the work of a

0:58.0

serial killer.

0:59.9

Some say, the worst serial killer in America. He came to be known as the ghoul of

1:06.0

graze harbor. I would occasionally have teachers mention the so-called ghoul of Grace Harbor.

1:14.0

Historian and author Aaron Goings.

1:16.0

He grew up near Grace Harbor.

1:18.0

And I even remember in passing people mentioning him,

1:23.0

including my wonderful grandmother,

1:26.2

I think, had some nasty things about him.

1:29.1

What did your grandmother say?

1:30.4

Uh, the only thing that really that I can remember is that she used the word

...

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