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All things Kooky and Spooky in the Sooner (or Cowboy) state! Native Oklahomans and cousins, Jess and Tiff, explore all the dark history, paranormal, and true crime in their home state.
Copyright: © Curious Cousins OK
Welcome to Episode 185, where Tiff digs into the history, tragedy, and lingering spirits of Oklahoma’s Sacred Heart Mission.
In the late 1800s, Benedictine monks fleeing French secularization laws struck a deal with the Potawatomi Nation to establish a Catholic sanctuary in the heart of Indian Territory. What began on 640 acres quickly became the birthplace of the Catholic Church in Oklahoma—a sprawling complex with a monastery, schools, a college, a model farm, a printing press, and a bustling bakery where nuns baked hundreds of French loaves daily.
However, the history of Sacred Heart Mission is deeply dual-natured. Behind its rapid growth and architectural achievements lay the painful reality of forced Native American assimilation, where children were separated from their families, stripped of their culture, and subjected to harsh punishments. When a catastrophic fire swept through the grounds in January 1901—its fiery glow visible 30 miles away—it marked the beginning of a long decline that eventually left the site a secluded ghost town.
In this episode, we explore the rise and fall of Sacred Heart, its transition into modern-day ruins, and the eerie paranormal encounters that keep investigators and thrill-seekers looking over their shoulders.
Key Discussion Points
The Founding & Expansion (1876–1900): How Father Isidore Robot and Brother Dominic Lambert established the mission, built schools for Native boys and girls, founded Sacred Heart College, and produced the Indian Advocate newspaper right out of the mission bakery.
The Infernal Night of 1901: The devastating dining room fire that consumed the monastery, schools, convent, and church—and the lingering debate over whether lives were lost despite official reports.
The Dark History: The reality of forced cultural assimilation, stories of unmarked graves, severe disciplinary practices, and dark rumors that continue to cloud the mission’s legacy.
The Present-Day Ghost Town: Exploring the remaining structures on Bald Hill—including the two-story bakery, the standing church, log cabins, and the four distinct cemeteries.
Hauntings & Unexplained Phenomena: Reports of phantom French hymns, ghostly apparitions of priests and children, floating lights in the graveyards, a statue said to weep blood, shadow figures in the basement, and EVPs addressing investigators by name.
Listener & Visitor Note: Sacred Heart Mission is now located in the unincorporated area of Konawa, Oklahoma. The site is monitored by local law enforcement and a private caretaker, with strict "No Trespassing" enforcement to prevent vandalism and arson. Official tours are available by appointment only—please respect the historical grounds, religious history, and neighboring cemeteries if you request access.
Research Sources
In this week’s episode, Jess takes a special listener request straight from her own parents to explore one of Tulsa's most beloved historic landmarks. While breaking her usual rule of not covering back-to-back Tulsa stories, she dives deep into the fascinating evolution of Swan Lake—originally known as Orcutt Lake—tracing its journey from Creek Nation allotment land to a roaring 1910s amusement park, and ultimately into an elite midtown neighborhood.
What we cover:
1. The Early Days: From Creek Allotment to Amusement Park
2. The Shift to Elegance (1917–1930s)
3. Folklore, Rumors, & Local Mysteries
4. Swan Lake TodayVisitor Quick Reference
Visitor Quick Reference
Location: 1596 Swan Dr, Tulsa, OK 74120
Features: Half-mile walking loop, multi-level stone terraces, restored 1938 WPA fountain, and active waterfowl habitat.
Pro Tip: Located in Midtown Tulsa, making it an easy companion visit to the nearby Philbrook Museum of Art.
Research Sources
This week, we delve into the haunting, forgotten history of George Jefferson Hassell—one of the most prolific yet overlooked family annihilators in American true crime. While infamous figures like Lizzie Borden or the Axeman of New Orleans dominate popular lore, Hassell quietly picked off two entire families across California and Texas between 1917 and 1926, ultimately taking the lives of 13 innocent people.
What We Cover in This Episode:
The Concept of Family Annihilation: Defining the psychological phenomenon of familicide and comparing Hassell to well-known modern figures like John List, Chris Watts, and Ronald DeFeo Jr.
Early Criminal Roots & Military Desertion: Hassell’s troubled beginnings in Smithville, TX, his early prison sentence in Huntsville, and his repeating loops of joining and deserting the U.S. Military.
The Whittier "Death House" (1917): How a WWI financial dispute led to the brutal strangulation of his common-law wife, Marie Vogel, and her three young children—whose remains lay hidden under a garage in California for nearly a decade.
The Farwell, Texas Massacre (1926): The horrific week-long slaughter of his second wife, Susan (widow of his late brother Thomas), and all eight of her children in rural Parmer County, Texas.
The Investigation & Unraveling: How an astute sister-in-law in Pittsburgh connected the dots from national newspaper headlines, guiding police to the buried California victims.
Trial & Execution: The lightning-fast 1927 trial in Farwell, Texas, Hassell's total lack of remorse, and his eventual death in "Old Sparky" at Huntsville Prison in 1928.
Key Episode Highlights & Quotes:
"So I had started and Lord-God I would have given anything in the world if I had not made the first lick, but I had started it and I finished it."— George Hassell, on beginning the Farwell family massacre
A Striking Pattern: Exploring author Mitchel P. Roth's classification of Hassell as a "serial mass murderer," examining how he repeated the exact same operational blueprint across both massacres a decade apart.
The Surviving Son: The story of Delbert Laughlin—Hassell's biological son from his first marriage—whose mother fled in 1910 out of fear for their lives, saving them both from Hassell's violent nature.
Legal Aftermath: Why California dropped prosecution and allowed Texas to proceed directly with electrocution, alongside the ultimate probate handling of the Oklahoma farmland tied to the estate.
Victims Honored in This Episode
Marie Vogel, 32
Gerald Vogel, 7
Rita Baker, 2
Anthony Baker, 1
Susan Frances "Susie" Hassell, 40
Alton Hassell, 21
Virgil Hassell, 15
Maudie Hassell, 13
Russell Hassell, 11
David Hassell, 7
Johnnie Hassell, 6
Nannie Martha Hassell, 4
Samuel Hassell, 1
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Ep 182: The May Rooms
Step back into the high-stakes, wildcatting days of early Tulsa, where oil, money, and vice built a boomtown overnight. This week, Jess dives into the history of The May Rooms, Tulsa’s longest-running and most infamous brothel. Operating on the upper floors of the 1918 Jacobs Building (310 E. First St.), the enterprise survived over four decades of vice raids, Prohibition front-shops, and strict 17-minute time limits—all under the watchful eye of its formidable madam, Pauline Lambert.
We cover the jaw-dropping lore of the 1970s armed robber who complained to Channel 8 news when the brothel called the cops on him, the 87-year-old sting operation that finally brought down the house, and how this secretive second-story labyrinth froze in time until its modern revival in the Blue Dome District. Plus, stick around for the spooks: phantom footsteps, the legend of "Aspirin Annie," and the ghostly encounters Jess experienced firsthand on a Tulsa haunted pub crawl!
So snuggle in! It’s the start of spooky season, and this tale, will leave you ready to go physically (or spectrally) visit some of these iconic locations!
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Ep 181: Flames, Factions, and the Fall of Oklahoma’s Prison System
Was anyone a fan of the show “Prison Break”? Anyone?
While major, full-scale prison takeovers have dropped sharply since their peak in the 1970s and 80s—thanks to modern architectural containment zones and specialized Tactical Emergency Teams (CERT)—Oklahoma’s history holds some of the most violent and costly uprisings in American history. In Episode 181, Tiff breaks down the macro history of American prison disturbances and traces how a deadly cycle of severe overcrowding, extreme heat, understaffing, and volatile gang dynamics turned Oklahoma's correctional facilities into powder kegs.
From the historic 1973 uprising at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester to the chain reaction of medium-security revolts through the 1980s and the modern gang-driven lockdowns of today, this episode explores what happens when a state system reaches its breaking point.
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Welcome back, cousins, to Season 5 of your favorite Kooky and Spooky podcast, about your favorite state, Oklahoma! This season, Jess starts us off with a little state fair history…
From deep-fried treats and livestock shows to the roar of the midway, state fairs represent classic autumn nostalgia. But behind the neon lights of the 1987 Oklahoma State Fair lurked a nightmare that would leave two native sisters dead and trigger a decades-long battle for justice against institutional corruption.
In this episode, Jess takes a look back at the history of Oklahoma’s iconic fair traditions before diving into one of the state's most frustrating cold cases: the September 1987 disappearances of Cheryl Genzer (25) and Lisa Pennington (16). After leaving the fairgrounds with two men, the sisters vanished. A month later, their remains were exhumed from a shallow grave in northwest Oklahoma City—both dead from headshots fired by two completely different caliber weapons.
Who did it? Will we ever know? And could new legislation blow this, and many more, cold cases wide open? Listen now!
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🎙️ Ep 179: Lawton Dogman (Season 4 Finale)
📌 Episode Overview
In the Season 4 finale, Tiff dives deep into one of the Sooner State’s most famous and unsettling urban legends: The 1971 Lawton Dogman. What began as a series of strange sightings in Southwestern Oklahoma quickly escalated into city-wide panic, emergency police calls, and hospitalizations.
The episode traces the deep roots of werewolf lore—from ancient Greek writings and medieval European witch trials to Turkic shamanic traditions—before dissecting Oklahoma's own bizarre history of upright canine encounters. Tiff also explores broader state hotspots (including the Kiamichi Mountains, Lake Thunderbird, and the Red River Valley) and contrast modern "cryptid" hunters with traditional Indigenous perspectives on shapeshifters, dark medicine, and the legend of Deer Woman.
🏷️ Episode Credits
Written & Produced by: Jess Burnett & Tiff Murray
Editing: Jess Burnett
Social Media: Tiff Murray
Theme Music: "It Comes to This" by Moments
Cover Art: Jess Burnett & Tiff Murray
Catch up on past episodes now! "Curious Cousin OK" will return with Season 5 this September.
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2. The 1971 Lawton Panic3. Oklahoma Cryptid Hotspots4. Cryptids vs. Indigenous Traditions
Ep 178: The Bombing of Boise City
In July 1943, World War II was raging across the globe, patriotic fervor was at an all-time high, and Americans were doing everything they could to support the war effort. But for the small, sleepy agricultural town of Boise City, Oklahoma, the war hit a little too close to home—literally.
In this episode, Jess explores the bizarre, true story of how a rogue U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 bomber got hopelessly lost during a nighttime training run, mistook the lights of the Cimarron County Courthouse for its practice target, and launched a 30-minute aerial blitz on an unsuspecting American town. From a heroic power plant operator who saved the day by killing the lights, to a missing bomb hidden in a barn for over 70 years, to the flight crew’s journey from catastrophic blunder to decorated wartime heroes, this is one of the most unbelievable chapters in Oklahoma history…and certainly doesn’t skimp on the kooky and spooky!
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Episode 177: Daniel Furr (Part 2) — The Web of Silence
How far would you go to find the truth when the system shuts its doors?
In Part 1, Tiff traced the heartbreaking disappearance of 15-year-old Daniel Lee Furr from Ada, Oklahoma, in the summer of 1995, and the chaotic, deeply flawed recovery of a body at an abandoned brick quarry.
Now, in Part 2, Tiff dives headfirst into the terrifying aftermath. As a grieving mother is met with a wall of institutional silence and bureaucratic excuses, a chilling web of rumors begins to spread among the local youth—whispering of a brutal ambush, dark secrets, and suspects shielded by local ties.
We explore the shocking mismanagement of vital physical evidence, a stunning discovery hidden away in a courthouse basement, and a sister’s relentless, decades-long fight to step in where the law failed. What happens when the primary suspect takes his secrets to the grave? And can modern forensic technology finally bring answers to a family that has spent over thirty years searching for justice?
Listener discretion is advised, as this episode contains discussions of violence and sensitive themes.
Have information regarding the death of Daniel Lee Furr?
Please contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) at 1-800-522-8017. There remains a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
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Episode 176: Daniel Furr (Part 1)
The mid-1990s were a chaotic, historic era defined by massive headlines—from the tragedy of the OJ Simpson trial and the shock of the Oklahoma City bombing to the pop-culture frenzy of Windows 95 and the return of Michael Jordan. But in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, a completely different, deeply convoluted nightmare was unfolding for one local family.
In this episode, Tiff opens the file on the heartbreaking and baffling unsolved murder of 15-year-old Daniel Lee Furr. Daniel was a curious, animal-loving teenager known for his warmth and independent spirit, but his final year took a dark turn. After getting mixed up with a dangerous crowd and initiated into a local gang, Daniel found himself trapped in a world of fear, threats, and sudden disappearances.
On July 11, 1995, Daniel's own Boy Scout troop made a gruesome discovery at the bottom of an abandoned, overgrown rock quarry outside of town: a severely decomposed body lying beneath their missing troop flag. What followed was a masterclass in bureaucratic confusion. From a crime scene littered with bizarre clues to forensic reports riddled with staggering medical contradictions—including mismatched hair lengths, wildly conflicting height and weight estimates, and a highly chaotic dental identification—a haunting question has kept his family fighting for decades: Was it actually Daniel in that pit?
Join us as we scratch the surface of a case where local rumors intersect with systemic failure. As your favorite cousins always say, no cold case is truly that cold, and it only takes one small piece of information to blow a case wide open.
Special Thanks & Resources: This episode heavily features research and insights from Raven Rollins. For a deeper dive into Daniel's story, we highly recommend checking out her work:
Listen: The Sirens: Southern True Crime Podcast for in-depth interviews with Daniel’s mother, Gale, and sister, Chelsea.
Read: Sins of the South: Three Oklahoma Cold Cases and Allegedly: True Crime from Pontotoc County, Oklahoma by Raven Rollins (available on Amazon).
Community: Follow the Justice for Daniel Furr page on Facebook to support the family's ongoing fight for answers.
Case Information: If you have any information regarding the disappearance and death of Daniel Lee Furr, please contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) at 1-800-522-8017, or submit a tip via the OSBI Cold Case Files. No detail is too small.
Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a review, hit subscribe, and share this episode to help keep Daniel's memory alive and push for the justice he deserves. Stay tuned for Part 2!
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