Circleville, Ohio, appears to be a typical, quiet American town. However, from 1976 to 1993, it was terrorized by a poison pen writer. This person ruined families and created an unsolved mystery in U.S. history. Let’s explore some of the strangest facts about the Circleville Letter writer.
10 The First Victims
In 1976, the first letters from “The Circleville Writer” appeared. These messages were nasty and included intimate secrets about the people they targeted. Many letters were sexually explicit. By the summer of 1977, the writer focused on Mary Gillispie, a school bus driver in her mid-thirties.
The first note to Mary accused her of having an affair with school superintendent Gordon Massie. The writer claimed to have watched Mary’s home and knew about her husband and children. The Circleville Writer demanded Mary end the affair.
9 Campaign of Terror
Mary initially kept the letters secret, only telling her husband, Ron. She swore to him that she was not having an affair with Gordon Massie.
Soon after, Ron received a letter telling him to admit the affair to the Westfall School Board. The writer threatened to kill him if he didn’t. Again, Ron and Mary kept quiet.
Two weeks later, a harsher letter arrived. It said, “Gillispie, you have had 2 weeks and done nothing. Make [Mary] admit the truth and inform the school board.” If Ron refused, the writer threatened to “broadcast it on CBs, posters, signs, and billboards, until the truth comes out.”
8 Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs
Mary and Ron continued to wait. For a while, the letters stopped. They told Ron’s sister, Karen, and her husband, Paul Freshour, about the letters.
Mary thought the writer was a fellow school bus driver named David Longberry. She believed he was angry because she had rejected him in the past. Paul wrote a letter to David, telling him to stop threatening the Gillispie family.
More weeks of silence followed. Then, indecent signs began appearing around Circleville. Many accused Gordon Massie of having a sexual relationship with Ron and Mary’s 12-year-old daughter.
Ron had to wake up early to remove the signs before his daughter saw them.
7 The Death of Ron Gillispie
On August 19, 1977, Ron Gillispie received a phone call. The caller is still unknown, but the call angered Ron. After hanging up, he grabbed a pistol and drove off.
Later that day, his car was found wrapped around a tree. Ron, 35, was dead inside. His firearm had been fired once.
Police ruled Ron’s death an accident caused by alcohol. They claimed his blood alcohol level was 1.5 times the legal limit.
Ron’s family and friends disagreed. They said he wasn’t a big drinker and hadn’t had alcohol that day. The Circleville Writer also sent a letter after Ron’s death, accusing Sheriff Dwight Radcliff of covering up the crime.
6 The Truth Comes Out
Ron Gillispie’s death caused chaos for his wife, Mary, and his brother-in-law, Paul. Paul accused the sheriff of changing his story about Ron’s death.
“The sheriff agreed with me that there was foul play,” Paul said, “And then, when I contacted him again, he’d changed his attitude completely.” The suspect, possibly David Longberry, had passed a polygraph test.
Mary was still tormented by the Circleville Writer and eventually admitted to having a romantic relationship with Gordon Massie after the letters appeared. Few believed her.
5 Attempted Murder
The Circleville Writer dug up hidden secrets and tore apart families. Paul and Karen Freshour divorced after Paul learned Karen had cheated on him. Paul got custody of their children, and Karen moved into a trailer in Mary Gillispie’s backyard.
The letters also targeted Pickaway County Coroner Dr. Ray Carroll, who had been accused of sexually abusing children.
The Circleville Writer continued to send Mary letters and signs. On February 7, 1983, Mary stopped her bus to remove an offensive sign. The sign was rigged with a box containing a loaded pistol, but she was lucky, and it didn’t go off.
4 The Close Enemy
The booby trap was a turning point in the case. The pistol belonged to Paul Freshour. He said it had been missing for a while.
Sheriff Radcliff had Paul take a handwriting test. Journalist Martin Yant said the test was improper, requiring Paul to copy one of the Circleville Writer’s letters.
Following the test and a search of Paul’s garage, Paul Freshour was charged with attempted murder. He was convicted and sentenced to 7–25 years, despite never being charged with writing the letters.
3 The Letters Continue
After Paul Freshour’s conviction, most people thought the Circleville Writer had been caught. However, the letters continued to appear in Circleville and other locations in Central Ohio.
Sheriff Radcliff had Paul moved into solitary confinement. The sheriff’s department conducted three sweeps of Paul’s cell but found nothing. The prison warden wrote that it was impossible for Paul to write the letters from his cell.
The new letters included horrific accusations. The Circleville Writer accused Roger Kline, who had prosecuted Paul Freshour, of killing a pregnant schoolteacher and threatened to dig up the victim’s grave.
Paul also received a mocking letter: “Now when are you going to believe you aren’t going to get out of there? I told you two years ago. When we set ‘em up, they stay set up. Don’t you listen at all?”
2 The Last Threat
Paul Freshour was paroled in May 1994 after serving 10 years in prison. Before his release, Unsolved Mysteries decided to cover the case. Before filming, the show received a threatening card: “Forget Circleville Ohio: Do nothing to hurt Sheriff Radcliff: if you come to Ohio you el [sic] sickos will pay.”
The Unsolved Mysteries team went ahead anyway, and the episode debuted on November 11, 1994. No new leads appeared, and the 1993 warning was the last known message from the Circleville Writer.
1 Clues
The Circleville Writer knew a lot about the town. Mary Gillispie and Gordon Massie were having an affair. An Ohio TV station confirmed rumors that prosecutor Roger Kline had gotten a schoolteacher pregnant. He was investigated but cleared and later became an appellate court judge.
Dr. Ray Carroll, accused of being a pedophile, was charged with multiple counts of sex crimes in December 1993. David Longberry, Mary Gillispie’s initial suspect, forcibly raped an 11-year-old girl in 1999 and is still a wanted fugitive.
After being paroled, Paul Freshour created a website to claim his innocence, asserting that Sheriff Radcliff covered up crimes to become president of the National Sheriffs’ Association.
The letter to Unsolved Mysteries seemed protective of the sheriff, while the letter to Paul hinted the writer was close to the sheriff or police.
One theory suggests the writer was multiple people: David Longberry and then Karen Freshour after her divorce. Another theory says the writer was the “Man in the Yellow El Camino,” seen near the booby trap site on the day Mary was almost killed. The description of this man didn’t match Paul Freshour.
The mystery of the Circleville Letters remains unsolved, leaving a dark mark on the town of Circleville and a fascinating, unsettling case for true crime enthusiasts.
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