Mini Adventure for Dungeon World: Marooned

While looking for some inspiration I found this in an old archive. A little revision later and ...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XMUg3y5tKBlrE5bbLJMFS1h_Fqli58a7

Kingsbury Horror: The Case of Frank Dolezal

County Sheriff Martin O’Donnell arrested fifty-two-year-old Bohemian brick layer Frank Dolezal for the murder of Flo Polillo. Dolezal had lived with her for a while, and subsequent investigation revealed he had been acquainted with Butcher serial killer victims Edward Andrassy and Rose Wallace.

His “confession” turned out to be a bewildering blend of incoherent ramblings and neat, precise details, almost as if he had been coached. Before he could go to trial, Dolezal was found dead in his cell. The five foot eight Dolezal had hanged himself from a hook only five feet seven inches off the floor. Gerber’s autopsy revealed six broken ribs, all of which had been obtained while in the Sheriff’s custody. To this day no one thinks Frank Dolezal was the torso killer. The question is: why did Sheriff O’Donnell?

One suspected individual was Dr. Francis E. Sweeney.Sweeney was a veteran of World War I who was part of a medical unit that conducted amputations and patching in the field. Sweeney was later personally interviewed by Eliot Ness, who oversaw the official investigation into the killings in his capacity as Cleveland's Safety Director. During this interrogation, Sweeney is said to have "failed to pass" two very early polygraph machine tests. Both tests were administered by polygraph expert Leonard Keeler, who told Ness he had his man. Nevertheless, Ness apparently felt there was little chance of obtaining a successful prosecution of the doctor, especially as he was the first cousin of one of Ness's political opponents, Congressman Martin L. Sweeney, who had hounded Ness publicly about his failure to catch the killer.(Congressman Sweeney was also related by marriage to Sherriff O'Donnell). After Sweeney committed himself, there were no more leads or connections that police could assign to him as a possible suspect. From his hospital confinement, threatening postcards with Sweeney's name mocked and harassed Ness and his family into the 1950s. Sweeney died in a veterans' hospital at Dayton in 1964.

The Kingsbury Run Murders remain one of the most perplexing cases in our nation’s criminal history. Rumors abound as to who may have been the killer. One thing is very clear: Eliot Ness had a suspect who he believed was undoubtedly the killer. This suspect continued to taunt Ness for years after the killings had stopped. All official police records on this case have been lost, destroyed, or removed.


The sheriffs most likely murdered an innocent man...

Cuyahoga Community College professor and author Dr. James J. Badal has researched the crimes for two decades. Badal says his team is so confident about their findings that the Police Historical Society commissioned a headstone to be placed on Dolezal's previously unmarked grave.

"Not only is it a cleansing for myself," said Dolezal-Satterlee. "I think for my relatives...(they'll) have a silent moment. And perhaps they'll be at rest as well."

"Frank Dolezal was not the mad butcher, nor did he commit suicide," Dr. Badal said. "He made three confessions. None of them held up."

"And the lead detective," said Badal, "wrote in his memoirs, 'This is the first time that I've ever known anyone to confess to a crime that didn't know the details of the crime to which he was confessing."

The gravestone, set at a ceremony attended by family members in August 2010, reads simply, "Rest Now."

Source:
https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2010/08/23/frank-dolezals-name-cleared-in-torso-murders

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/james_badal_tracks_clevelands.html

https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-cleveland-torso-murderer/amandasedlakhevener

The Monster of the Week Mystery: The Kingsbury Horror

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JCAc5QaTgUFTDALUXpN8aWqyRg5ZF2Kh/view?usp=sharing

Ken Hite’s Trail of Cthulhu rulebook’s classic sample scenario inspired this Monster of the Week (“MotW”) mystery. I have, however, both simplified and changed features and removed most Lovecraftian Mythos references from the adventure. Obtaining a copy of the Trail of Cthulhu rulebook for access to the original scenario is strongly recommended. I also recommend In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders by James Jessen Badal as the best current book about the case. Feedback Welcome!

Note to Fans

Due to family health problems I've had to step back for the wonderful world of RPGs for a few weeks....
I look forward to being back as soon as I can!

Happy New Year!