THE CIRCLEVILLE LETTERS

In 1976, residents of Circleville, Ohio, began receiving hate mail that has wreaked havoc ever since. The letters, postmarked from Columbus, were invasive and accusatory, highlighting a supposed affair between school bus driver Mary Gillespie and the school superintendent. One letter addressed to Mary’s husband, Ron, threatened his life if he didn’t put a stop to the affair.

By 1977, the husband was dead, the result of a suspicious one-car crash that reportedly happened when he was on his way to confront the letter writer. When the sheriff ruled the death an accident, residents began receiving letters accusing the sheriff of a cover-up. The letters continued throughout the 1970s and early 1980s—and even after Ron’s sister’s husband, Paul Freshour, was convicted of writing the letters and attempting to murder Mary via a booby-trap-rigged pistol.

But even with Freshour in prison, the letters continued. He even received one himself. In 1994, the letters actually stopped when Freshour was released, and he maintained his innocence until his death in 2012. The true identity of the Circleville letter writer remains unknown. Some still believe it was Freshour, while others point to his ex-wife, Karen Sue. A few think Frehour took the rap to protect his son, Mark, who committed suicide in 2002. Others believe it was Mary all along, and that she used the letters to concoct and support the murder of her own husband...