The Infamous Circleville Letters Terrorized Residents Of A Small Ohio Town During The 1970s, As An Anonymous Author Sent Mysterious Messages Threatening To Expose Community Members’ Deepest And Darkest Secrets
If you’ve ever seen the mystery teen drama Pretty Little Liars, you know it’s about four best friends who band together after receiving frightening messages from an anonymous foe named “A,” who threatened to reveal their darkest secrets.
Obviously, the television show is a work of fiction, but you might be surprised to discover that there was once a real-life “A.”
In the late 1970s, someone started terrorizing the small town of Circleville, Ohio, threatening to expose the illicit activities they had been engaging in. Handwritten letters were sent to multiple residents through the mail.
The recipients were accused of things like domestic violence, affairs, and even murder. The writer mainly targeted a woman named Mary Gillispie, who was a local bus driver.
Somehow, someone knew she was having an affair with school superintendent Gordon Massie. At the time, Mary denied it. Later, she admitted that she was actually seeing the superintendent but claimed their relationship only started after the letters.
In the initial letter, Mary was instructed to “stay away from Massie” and not to lie when questioned about meeting him.
The letter writer also stated that they knew where she lived and that she had children, so it was important that she take the situation seriously and stop the affair right away.
Not long after Mary received her letter, her husband Ron began getting mail as well. The anonymous sender told Ron that his wife was having an affair and demanded that he catch them in the act and kill them both.
Another letter addressed to Ron read, “Gillispie, you have had 2 weeks and done nothing. Admit the truth and inform the school board. If not, I will broadcast it on CBS, posters, signs, and billboards until the truth comes out.”
Lena Lir – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Then, on one fateful evening in 1997, the Gillispie house received a phone call. After the phone call, Ron became angry. He grabbed his gun and told his daughter he was going to confront the letter writer.
But a few hours later, Ron was found dead in his truck as the result of crashing into a tree. Before his death, he had fired off his gun one time.
The police declared his death to be an accident, but others suspected that he was murdered. Even after Ron’s death, the letters continued to arrive.
The attacks against Mary grew increasingly violent. In 1983, Mary was nearly killed due to a baited trap. On the way to school, she spotted a sign about her daughter affixed to a fence. When she stopped the bus to tear down the sign, she found that it was tied to a box.
Inside the box was a loaded gun belonging to Paul Freshour, Ron’s brother-in-law. Investigators were able to trace the gun back to Paul through the weapon’s serial number.
Pau’s wife, Karen, told police that her husband was the Circleville letter writer. The couple had been in the middle of a divorce, and she claimed she had found letters hidden in their home.
Paul insisted that the gun had been stolen weeks ago and denied writing the letters. He was asked to provide handwriting samples, and a polygraph test declared that he was lying.
In 1984, Paul was found guilty of attempted murder and was believed to be the Circleville writer. However, the tormenting letters didn’t stop coming even after he was behind bars.
Yet there was no possible way Paul could’ve been the sender as he did not have access to pen or paper. He even received a letter himself.
Paul served ten years in prison before he was released in 1994. That same year, the letters finally stopped. Paul continued to assert that he wasn’t the letter writer, but forensic analysts found many similarities between his handwriting and the anonymous letters.
Years later, the identity of the Circleville writer is still a mystery. We may never find out who really sent those letters.
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