[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
If you dig the twisted, admire the outlandish, and are enamored by the unusual, you're in the right place. True crime, the supernatural, the unexplained. Now you're speaking our language. If you agree, join us as we dive into the darker side. You know, because it's more fun over here. Welcome to Total Conundrum Warning. Some listeners may find the following content disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: In a peaceful Denver neighborhood, a well respected man is found brutally murdered in his home. There's no sign of forced entry, no fingerprints, no clear motive. Just a locked house and a body.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: The case baffles police. Neighbors are shaken. The house sits in eerie silence until it doesn't.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Strange noises echo through the halls. Lights flicker, food vanishes from the kitchen. And the nurses caring for the widow begin to fear something unnatural is happening.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Some say it's haunted. Others think it's all in their heads. But the truth behind this murder and what's hiding inside that house will become one of the most disturbing cases in Denver's history.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: This is a story about what happens when the safety of your own home.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Isn'T what it seems and the answers lie deeper than anyone could have imagined.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: So settle in Conundrum crew. Maybe turn on a light or two because we're heading to the 1940s Denver where a quiet home became the center of a mystery that would haunt the city for decades.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Before we dive any deeper into this twisted tale, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Leave us a review on Apple and Spotify. And if you're watching on YouTube, ring that notification bell so you never miss a new episode. Your support helps keep Total Conundrum going. Got a spooky story or an episode idea? Reach out to
[email protected] or you can find us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: And because we know you love a good mix of bizarre true crime and mind bending mysteries, stick around till the end. We've got some trailers from our podcast pals at Weirdsdale Podcast and Dairyland Frights podcast. Be sure to check them out. But for now, let's head back to that peaceful Denver neighborhood where a simple home became the center of a baffling mystery and where the real horror wasn't just in what happened, but in the unanswered questions that lingered long after.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: We'll be back after these messages. Welcome to Weirdsdale. Are you a weirdster like us? Do you love the paranormal, true crime mysteries and stories of the just plain weird? We're sisters, Melissa and Stephanie One of.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Us is obsessed with telling the other.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Every weird story she can find.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Every week on our show, Weirdsdale, we have a story that's sure to leave you wondering.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: You might even let out a welp.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Join us in Weirdsdale every Thursday for a new episode of Sister Sisters speculating on the strange.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Find us in your podcast app and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @weirdsdalepodcast and TikTok @weirdsdalepod. What's weird with you?
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Back to the show.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Should we dive in?
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Let's do it. To truly understand the story, the tragedy, the mystery, and everything in between, we have to start with the man at the heart of it. Philip Peters.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Philip was born in the 1860s, back when Denver was barely more than a frontier town. He saw the city grow from dusty streets and horse drawn carriages to electric street cars and automobiles. Through it all, Denver was home. He never left.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: And like a lot of people back then, Philip lived a simple, steady life.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: He.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: He worked as a railroad auditor for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Not flashy, but a job that brought respect and stability. He was known for being punctual, methodical and just easy to get along with. The kind of guy who paid his bills on time and always waved to the neighbors.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Philip also wasn't the kind of man who needed big city lights or grand adventures. He. His joys were in the small things. Routine, community and faith. Which is exactly how he met his future wife, Helen.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: It was the late 1800s and Philip and Helen both attended the same local church. It wasn't just a place of worship, it was a hub for the neighborhood. Everyone knew everyone, and if you were looking to meet somebody respectable. Church socials were basically the Tinder of 1885.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Swipe right for the hymnals, please.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Exactly. Philip met Helen at one of those socials, and by all accounts, it was a gentle old school courtship, long conversations, Sunday walks, letters exchanged, and eventually a proposal.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: They married soon after and settled into a modest two story home on Moncrief Place in north Denver. It was nothing fancy, but it was theirs. And over time, it became a place full of memories, shared meals, evening routines, and probably more than a few disagreements over whose turn it was to stoke the fire.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: They never had children, but they had each other. And their life together was by all accounts quiet and content. They were the kind of couple people barely noticed because everything about them was so normal.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Same house over four decades, same neighbors, same rhythm of life. It was the kind of stability a lot of people would envy. The kind where nothing really changes but.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Of course, everything changes eventually. And for Philip and Helen Peters, that peaceful routine was about to unravel in ways that no one could have seen coming.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: By 1941, life in the Peters household had begun to quiet even further. Helen's health was declining. She was in her late 60s and age was catching up with her.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: After a serious fall in their home, likely resulting in a hip fracture, Helen was admitted to Denver General Hospital for long term care and rehabilitation. In those days, that meant weeks, sometimes months, of being away from home, away from the comforts of daily life, and away from Philip.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: For the first time in over 40 years, Philip was truly alone in the house they had shared. No clatter of Helen's footsteps, no meaningful conversations over dinner. Just an old house and a lot of empty space.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: But this was north Denver, a tight knit community where neighbors looked out for one another, especially someone like Philip, who was now a widower.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: In practice, most of the residents in the neighborhood were younger couples and families, and they took it upon themselves to check in, bringing Philip meals, stopping by to chat, making sure he was doing okay. It wasn't out of pity. It was just what people did.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: And Philip, ever polite, graciously accepted the help. Though he didn't ask for it. He still kept his routine, visiting Helen at the hospital every day, without fail, returning home to an empty, dimly lit house. Days became predictable, even if they were lonely.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Until one day, he didn't show up.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Philip had been invited to dinner at the neighbor's home, one of the many times they tried to include him, to give him some company and comfort. He accepted the invitation as he always did. But that evening, he never arrived.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: No phone call, no note, nothing.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: At first they thought maybe he had just forgotten, or maybe he had to stay late at the hospital with Helen. It wasn't like Philip to be rude, but people gave him the benefit of the doubt.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: But as night fell and his house stayed dark, unease set in. Something wasn't right. And within hours, neighbors would come to understand just how right that feeling was.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: The day after Philip missed that dinner, October 17, 1941, his neighbors couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. This wasn't like him. Philip Peters wasn't the kind of man to just disappear, especially not without a word. Philip wasn't just a familiar face on the block. He was the kind of man who waved to the neighbors every morning, who helped shovel walkways in the winter and played the mandolin at church socials. After Helen went into the hospital, folks in the neighborhood looked after him, not just out of duty, but because they truly cared about him.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: One neighbor even recalled how Philip would bring apples from his garden to the kids down the street. A quiet, thoughtful guy who kept to himself, but always had time for others.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: So when he missed that dinner invitation, it wasn't just out of character. It was alarming. And that's when the neighbors didn't hesitate to go check on him. They walked up the familiar path to his front door. Knocked. No answer. They called out his name. Silence.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: They tried the doorknob. It was locked. Windows locked, curtains drawn. The house was still like it had been abandoned, but something about it just felt off.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Now, here's where the community closeness came into play. One of the neighbors actually had a spare key. Back then, it was common to leave a copy with someone you trusted. So, key in hand, the they let themselves in, calling out for Philip one more time as they stepped into the house.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: The moment they entered, it was immediately clear something was very wrong. The air was still and cold, and the house felt too quiet, like even the walls were holding their breath.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: They made their way toward the living room. And that's where they found him. Philip Peters, slumped on the floor, covered in blood. His skull had been brutally fractured, his body limp and lifeless.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: The murder weapon, A cast iron stove shaker, a heavy tool used to stir coal fires. It had been used with such force, there was no doubt in anyone's mind this wasn't an accident. This was a killing driven by rage.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: The neighbors, horrified, immediately called the police, who arrived quickly and. And began to piece together what had happened. And right away, one thing stood out. There were no signs of forced entry.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: The doors had been locked, the windows secured. Nothing appeared to be stolen. Valuables were left untouched. There were no muddy footprints, no signs of a struggle, Just Philip, beaten to death in his own home.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Detectives were baffled. Was it a robbery gone wrong? A targeted attack? Or something else? Something more calculated and most chilling of.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: All, if no one broke in, then how did the killer get inside? And where did they go?
[00:11:54] Speaker B: It was a mystery that left the entire neighborhood on edge. And it was only the beginning. In the days after Philip's murder, the neighborhood was shaken. The sense of safety was gone, replaced by fear and speculation. Who could do something like this? And would they strike again?
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Amid all the uncertainty, there was still Helen Peters, recovering from her hip injury, unaware that her husband had been murdered in their own home.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Eventually, the time came for Helen to leave the hospital. But because of her frailty and the shock that she was about to face, arrangements were made for her to Return under round the clock care, private nurses were brought in to look after her. In the wake of Philip Peters murder, the once peaceful street of Moncrief Place felt different. Neighbors locking their doors, watching shadows a little bit more closely. The unanswered questions hung over the neighborhood like a storm cloud.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: But for one person, the impact of the day would be immeasurable. Helen Peters, still recovering from her hip injury, had returned home. The same home where her husband of over 40 years had died violently.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: She wasn't told everything at first. Between her fragile health and the shock of grief, doctors and friends chose to protect her the best that they could. But home, she came under constant care from private nurses.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Now, this was 1941. Home care wasn't just about checking vitals. It meant being present in the house day and night, ensuring Helen could rest and recover in familiar surroundings. But almost immediately, the nurses began to notice strange things.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: At first, it was small things. The nurses reported hearing noises at night. Soft footsteps, the faint sound of creaking floorboards and rooms that they knew were empty. Sometimes it was just a low thump or the sound of something shuffling in the walls.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: They'd checked the rooms. Nothing. Checked the locks still secured. Not no windows broken, no signs of anyone getting in. Just those strange, fleeting sounds, as if the house was breathing on its own.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: And then it escalated. Food started going missing. Entire portions vanished overnight. At first, the nurses thought Helen had a midnight snack, except for she was bedridden, barely able to move without help.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: Then items began to shift. Small things like utensils, blankets, books. They'd find them out of place or completely gone, only to reappear later in odd spots. It was enough to unsettle even the most practical among them.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Some of the nurses tried to brush it off. Maybe it was grief, or just the stress of caring for someone ill in a house with such a tragic past. But as the noises persisted and the strangeness grew, fear crept in.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: As the weeks passed, the house seemed to grow heavier. The noises didn't stop. If anything, they became more frequent. The nurses who had been rotating shifts were now speaking openly about their fear.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: One nurse in particular would have an experience that still haunts people to this day. It was late in the evening, and she was checking in on Helen, who had fallen asleep. The house was silent, dimly lit. The kind of silence that feels unnatural.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: As she moved through the hallways towards the kitchen, something caught her eye. A movement in the corner of her vision.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: She turned her head towards a nearby doorway. And that's when she saw it. A bare foot and the edge of a pale, skeletal hand just peeking into view from around the door frame. For a split second, frozen in place.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: And just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. The hallway fell silent for a beat, until she heard it. Footsteps, quick and heavy, racing up the stairs. She ran after the sound, but when she got there, the landing was empty. No one in sight.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: She stood there, paralyzed, heart pounding. She searched the house room by room, but found nothing. Helen hadn't moved. The doors were still locked from the inside, completely rattled.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: The nurse called the police not to report a break in, but because she believed genuinely that the house was haunted.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: She wasn't alone. The other nurses refused to work nights after that. Some quit altogether. And the house, well, now it had a reputation.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: Neighbors whispered about the ghosts, about Philip's spirit, about the house itself being cursed. People crossed the street rather than walk too close after dark. Something wasn't right in that house, and everyone knew it.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: As the strange events inside the Peter's house escalated, the neighbors, who had been so supportive since Philip's death, began to worry. Not just for their own safety, but for Helen.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: She was frail, grieving, and now living in a house where nurses refused to work. With staff quitting and the creeping fear that the house might be dangerous, those who cared about her decided to take action.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: A few of the neighbors came together and installed a doorbell system, a simple device rigged so Helen could press a button from her bed if she was in distress. The bell would sound loudly throughout the house, alerting anyone nearby. It was a small way to give her some control and maybe a little peace of mind.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: For a while. Things were quiet, but only for a while.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Then one night, the bell rang loud.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Sudden, echoing through the house.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: The nurse on duty rushed to Helen's room, fearing the worst. But when she arrived, Helen was asleep, undisturbed, and the bell still in her hands reach. But she hadn't touched it.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: She was certain the bell had gone off on its own.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: It was the final straw. For many, the odd sounds continued. Scratching, shuffling, faint thumps. At night, the house no longer felt like a home. It felt like a threat.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Helen's son from a previous relationship had been trying to manage things from a distance. Finally, he stepped in. He was deeply concerned, not only about the shortage of staff willing to care for his mother, but also the growing fear that something was truly wrong inside that house.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: He didn't buy the ghost stories, but he also didn't think Helen was safe there anymore. He made the decision to take her into his own home, away from Moncrief place away from the house that had taken Philip. And it was now unraveling the sanity of everyone inside of it.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: And as Helen left the house for the final time, the mystery remained. The police, who had been called more than once, conducted search after search, going room from room, looking for any signs of a break in, an intruder, something that could explain it all.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: But every time, they found nothing.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: The house was empty. Or so it seemed. You'd think the strangeness would have stopped, but it didn't.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Even without anyone living there, neighbors continued to report oddities. Shadows moving behind closed curtains, blinds that were open during the day and suddenly drawn by night, and lights flickering even though the power was supposedly off.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Some of them kept their distance, crossing the streets when they walked by. Others, they watched the house closely because something or someone was still inside.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Police, still baffled by Philip's murder and under pressure to find answers, decided to take a different approach. They began staking out the house, especially at night, hoping to catch an intruder or at least confirm what neighbors were seeing.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: They set up rotating patrols, watching for movement, anything out of place. And for a while, nothing. Just the same eerie silence and the occasional reports of movement that always seemed to vanish before they arrived.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Until one night, months after the murder, a patrol officer stationed nearby heard something. A loud thump. Not just the kind you hear in an old house, but something deliberate from inside.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Backup was called, and police entered the house, moving cautiously. This time, they weren't going to leave without finding something.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: As they searched, room by room, it all felt familiar. Like they'd done this before, because they had. But this time, one of the officers took a closer look at the closet on the second floor. But something about it now seemed off.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: As the officer scanned the inside of the closet, his flashlight caught something odd. A small wooden panel, nearly flush with the wall, barely noticeable unless you're right on top of it. It wasn't marked. No handle, just a faint outline, like a forgotten part of the house that didn't want to be found.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: He reached up, pried it open. And behind it, a dark, narrow crawl space, no wider than a suitcase, no taller than a crawl. The kind of place you'd never look because no one in their right mind would ever think to hide up there.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Suddenly, movement. A gaunt, filthy figure lunged from the darkness, skin pale, eyes wide, wearing tattered clothes and reeking of stale sweat and decay. The officers reacted fast, wrestling him to the ground before he could escape.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: The man was barely recognizable as human, emaciated, wide eyed, filthy beyond belief. And yet he had been in the house the entire time.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: His name was Theodore Edward Coneys.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: And the truth about what happened in the house was far more terrifying than any ghost story.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: The man pulled from the crawl space was no stranger to Denver. And he wasn't just some random drifter who stumbled into the Peters house. His story, it stretched back decades before.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Theodore Coneys ever stepped foot in the Peters home or ever dreamed of crawling into an attic. He was just a sickly kid born into hardship and isolation. His life started in a place where the odds were never in his favor.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: Coneys was born November 10, 1882, in Illinois, back when the US was still stitching itself together after the Civil War. Life was hard for a lot of people then, but for Theodore, it was something else entirely.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: From the very beginning, he was frail, thin, and constantly sick. Doctors believe he suffered from respiratory issues, likely things as tuberculosis or chronic bronchitis, which weren't uncommon back then. Add in poor nutrition, and you get a kid who was barely hanging on.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: So sick, in fact, that doctors told his mother he probably wouldn't live past the age of 18. Imagine growing up with that kind of expiration date hanging over your head. It's not just hard, it's. It shapes you.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: He spent much of his childhood bedridden or stuck indoors. School was a rare event, and he did not go regularly. And when he did, he was the sick kid, the one who couldn't keep up, who didn't fit in.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: And socially, he didn't really have a chance. Other kids played outside, ran around, lived normal lives. Conies watched from the windows or from the corner of a room, feeling left out and probably a little angry about it.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: As he got older, he became more withdrawn, not by choice, but by circumstance. His reclusive nature wasn't about being shy. It was about being told you don't belong over and over again.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: And that kind of isolation can mess with your head. He started to feel resentful, not just of the kids who had more, but the entire world that seemed to move forward without him.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: It's easy to look at what Coney's did later and only see the horrors of it. But to really understand how someone ends up living in an attic, shadowing another man's life, we have to start here, in a dark, quiet room with a sick child and a life that never quite had a chance.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Against all odds, Theodore coneys lived past 18. He outlived the doctor's expectations. And let's be honest, it wasn't exactly a victory lap. Surviving is one thing. Living well is Another.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Yeah. His health was still poor. And as he entered adulthood, those childhood illnesses didn't magically disappear. They just morphed into new challenges. Fatigue, weakness, chronic pain. Things that made it almost impossible for him to hold down a regular job or live independently.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: He tried, though. He wasn't just sitting around. Coneys wanted to work, wanted to have a life, but his body wouldn't cooperate. He bounced between low paying menial jobs, think janitorial work, errands, maybe the occasional clerk position. But it was always temporary, always uncertain.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: And with no family support system, no one to fall back on. When he lost a job, which happened a lot, he lost everything else too. Housing, food, stability. Gone.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Kony spent years drifting, living in boarding houses when he had money, shelters when he didn't, and on the streets when even that wasn't an option. There was no safety net, no real way to get ahead. Just surviving one day at a time.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: We'll be back after these messages.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Hello, my spooky friends. This is your host, John from Dairyland Frights, the paranormal podcast that covers everything spooky, creepy and mysterious in the Midwest.
Ah, this is actually John.
I hope my spooky voice scared you. And in this podcast, we're gonna have creepy guests and spooky tales and mysterious sightings of cryptids, UFOs, ghosts, and everything paranormal. So tune in if you dare to be scared.
And back to the show.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: His life became a loop of instability. He would scrape together just enough to survive, then lose it all again. And as he got older, that cycle got harder and harder to break.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: He spent time wandering between cities, just trying to get by. One of those cities was Denver, which would later become the setting of his infamous crime. But back then, it was just another stop on the road, another place to try and survive.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: In the midst of a life defined by isolation and hardship, Theodore Cones found one brief connection that gave him a sense of belonging, even if only for a little while.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: It was in Denver, sometime in the early 1920s or early 30s, that Coneys, despite his poor health and reclusive nature, became involved in a local guitar and mandolin club. Yeah, music of all things.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Conis played the mandolin not professionally, and probably not even that well. But for him, it was a rare escape, a way to be part of something normal, something human. He'd show up to small gatherings, quiet, unassuming, just there for the music.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: And that's where he met Philip Peters.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Philip was also a member of that club. A man by all accounts, was kind, respectable and welcoming. He wasn't flashy or Overly friendly, but he had that steady presence people trusted.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: They weren't close friends. There were a few shared meals and conversations. Coneys remembered Philip's politeness, his courtesy, the way that he treated everyone with basic decency, even a man like Coneys who didn't have much to offer in return.
[00:28:34] Speaker B: And for Coneys, that kind of treatment was rare. In a world where he was mostly ignored or dismissed, Peter stood out. That simple kindness, that brief connection through music, would stay with him for years.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: By the 1930s, Theodore Conies wasn't just down on his luck. He was completely unmoored. His health, already fragile since childhood, continued to deteriorate.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: He was frequently ill, severely underweight, and visibly aged beyond his years. Just surviving one day to the next was a struggle. He'd gone from boarding houses to shelters to sleeping wherever he could find a dry corner.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: There were days, even weeks, where he barely ate. Starvation wasn't a possibility. It was a routine. He lived as a vagrant, wandering Denver, invisible to most people and barely hanging on.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: And the toll of decades of isolation, of being overlooked, unwanted and forgotten, started to show on his mental state. Coneys became increasingly unstable, disconnected from reality and driven by a deep, festering resentment.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: He looked at the world and saw comfort that was never meant for him. Warm homes, hot meals, kind faces. And instead of finding peace with it, he grew bitter. He began to believe that if he couldn't have those things, then no one should.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: His sense of self faded. His identity became one of rejection and. And the bitterness turned into something darker. It wasn't just that he had nothing. It was that he believed he was owed something, something the world had stolen from him.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: By the fall of 1941, Coneys was at the lowest point of his life. Homeless, sick, starving and utterly alone in Denver. There was no money, no food, and nowhere to go.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: And that's when he remembered the Peters home. A quiet house in a quiet neighborhood. A place where, years earlier, he had found a sliver of kindness where a man named Philip Peters had once treated him with dignity.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: In his mind, it became a refuge, A place to escape the streets, the hunger, the misery. A house that was safe, warm and familiar.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: He didn't know if Philip would recognize him. He didn't even know if Philip would let him in. But in K's mind, he had no other choice.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: So he made his way to Montcreef Place. He hadn't seen the Peters in years, but in a moment of desperation, he decided to knock on their door, hoping for help, or at the very least.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: A hot meal but when he arrived, Philip wasn't home. The house was empty, and the door either left unlocked or easy enough to force open without raising suspicion.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: And in that moment, Coneys didn't hesitate. He slipped inside. Not with any grand plan. Just a desperate man looking for food, a little warmth, and maybe a chance to disappear from the world for a while.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: He moved through the empty house, familiar but strange. It was a tidy, peaceful, a lived in home, the kind Konis had never really known. He took what food he could find, pocketed a few items, and then he started to explore.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: That's when he found it. The closet on the second floor. And inside of it, a small wooden panel high on the wall. Curious, he pushed it open. And behind it was a crawl space, just barely big enough for a grown man to lie down.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: It was dark, dusty, claustrophobic. But for Coneys, it was perfect. It was hidden, secure, and most importantly, no one would ever think to look there.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: At first, it was just going to be for one night, A place to rest, avoid the streets, maybe come back a few times when Philip was out. But as he laid there in the darkness, Coneys realized something. He could stay. Permanently.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: Every night, Coneys would listen to Philip's every move, waiting for the house to fall into absolute silence before creeping down. He knew exactly how the floorboards creaked, which steps to avoid, and how long Philip usually stayed asleep. One wrong sound, one bump, one footstep too loud, and the entire illusion would shatter. He lived in a constant state of hypervigilance, timing every movement like his life depended on it. Because it did.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: And that's exactly what he did. Coneys began to creep through the house after dark, stealing food, moving objects, watching Philip from the shadows and the doorways.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: It became a twisted game. He shadowed Philip, testing how close he could get without being seen. He knew when Philip ate, when he slept, and when he left the house. And Konay's was always just a few steps behind or above.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: For Cones, it was control. For the first time in his life, he had power over someone else's world, even if Philip had no idea.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: But games like that, they never last forever.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Imagine that. Being in your own home, unaware that someone else was there lurking in the shadows, turning your life into their own personal game.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: After his capture, Theodor Coneys didn't resist. He didn't deny the murder. In fact, he confessed freely to the killing, to the months that he spent in the attic, and to every disturbing detail in between.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: During questioning, Coneys told police that he had no regrets. In his mind, he'd Done what he had to do to survive, to have a place of his own, even if it was a cramped, lightless crawlspace above a closet.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: When asked why he stayed after the murder conversation, Coney simply said he had nowhere else to go. He preferred the attic, the walls, the shadows. He became a part of the house, and to him, that was better than the streets.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: His trial was swift. Cones was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He would spend the rest of his days behind bars, away from the crawl spaces and shadows that he had once called home.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Coneys was sent to Colorado State Penitentiary, where He served over two decades behind bars. He died in prison in 1967 at the age of 84. A man who spent his final years in a different kind of cell, but still cut off from the world he had always felt outside of. But the story didn't end there.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: The press, fascinated and horrified, latched onto the bizarre nature of the crime. They dubbed Coneys the Spider man of Denver. Not for any superhero feats, but for his stealth, his ability to live undetected, and his life spent lurking in the dark corners where no one expected him.
[00:35:38] Speaker B: The public was terrified. The idea that someone could be living in your home without you knowing, that they could watch you, follow your every move, breathe the same air, and you have no idea it shook people to their core.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: People began checking their attics, locking interior doors, and watching for movement in places they once ignored. The story of con became an urban legend, a modern boogeyman. Proof that the real horror isn't always outside your home, but what might be lurking inside.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: To this day, the story of the Spider man of Denver is whispered whenever someone hears a creek in the attic or a noise they can't explain because sometimes monsters aren't under your bed. They're above it.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Let's just pause for a second and really let this sink in. Theodore Conies lived in a space so small only a child could stand upright. It was hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, filled with dust, spiders, and insulation. And yet he chose to stay there even after committing murder.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: And let's not forget, police searched that house multiple times. We're talking trained investigators looking for evidence, trying to figure out how Philip Peters had been killed in a locked home. They missed him every time. He was just feet away, listening, probably watching from the walls.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: That's the part that really gets me. He could have been right above them, holding his breath while they walked through the house, clueless. It's like something out of a horror film, except it actually happened.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: And speaking of horror films, Kony's story had inspired countless movies. Urban legends and creepypasta nightmares. The whole stranger living in your attic trope, that's real thanks to this guy. He's like the OG Attic Lurker.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: And here's the thing. This isn't an isolated case. Over the years, there have been similar real life stories. People finding strangers living in their attics, crawl spaces, even behind walls. One guy found out someone was living in the vent system of his apartment, coming out at night to eat his food.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: There was that case in Japan. A woman secretly living in a man's cupboard for months. He only found out when he installed security cameras because food kept disappearing. Real life Konay's vibes.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: It just goes to show, truth is always stranger than fiction. And sometimes the most terrifying monsters are the ones that make no noise at all. Until it's too late.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: So, Conundrum crew, maybe tonight, go ahead and check your attic. You know, just in case.
[00:38:24] Speaker A: You know, for me, the creepiest part of the whole thing wasn't even the murder. It's the idea that Con was there the whole time, watching, listening, blending into the house so well that even the police missed him. That's next level psychological horror.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Totally. I mean, we worry about locking our doors, setting alarms, but how do you protect yourself from somebody who's already inside? That's the kind of fear you really can't shake. Unseen intruders? That's nightmare fuel.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: I'm telling you right now, I'm never skipping an attic trek again. Every weird noise I hear is getting investigated.
[00:39:01] Speaker B: You'll be the guy who finds a squirrel and calls it cones 2.0.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: Listen, I'm not taking any chances. Squirrel or spider Man, I'm checking.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: All right, Conundrum crew, how about you? After hearing this one, are you checking your attic tonight? Maybe installing a doorbell just to be safe.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: And seriously, have you ever had weird house stories? Noises you couldn't explain? Things going missing, then reappearing in strange places? We want to hear them.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Hit us up on socials or shoot us a message. Who knows? Maybe we'll read a few. And hey, if you've got a crawl space horror story that's a front of the line priority, we'll be back next.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Time with another bizarre, creepy, or downright unexplainable case. Until then, lock your doors, check your attics, and maybe, just maybe, sleep with one eye open.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Stay safe, stay curious, and keep on creeping on. We love you.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: Bye.
Thanks for hanging out with us here at Total Conundrum. Please make sure to check out our website and
[email protected] for news, upcoming events, merch bloopers, and additional hysteria. You never know what will pop up, so be sure to follow along. If you want to show your support for Total Conundrum and gain access to all of our bonus content, please visit our Patreon page. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The links are available in our Show Notes. If you have any questions, comments, recommendations or stories to share, please email
[email protected] episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you like the show, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. We appreciate the love. Keep on creeping on.
