Welcome to Crimetown, a series produced by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier in partnership with Gimlet Media. Each season, we investigate the culture of crime in a different city. In Season 2, Crimetown heads to the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan. From its heyday as Motor City to its rebirth as the Brooklyn of the Midwest, Detroit’s history reflects a series of issues that strike at the heart of American identity: race, poverty, policing, loss of industry, the war on drugs, an ...
…
  continue reading
Content provided by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!
Go offline with the Player FM app!
Chad Daybell’s “Ghost Letter”: Inside the Mind of a Murderous Prophet
MP3•Episode home
Manage episode 516170018 series 2648298
Content provided by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
 In this chilling segment of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski reads and dissects Chad Daybell’s Letter #7 — a rambling, supernatural account written years before the doomsday murders that would make him infamous.
In the letter, Daybell claims that while working as the sexton of a Utah cemetery, he was haunted by the ghost of a petty thief named Eddie — a spirit that supposedly opened gates, picked locks, and moved padlocks onto pegs. He writes that he eventually told Eddie to “go toward the light,” and that the disturbances stopped.
Then the letter descends into something far darker. Daybell describes being electrically jolted and shoved by an unseen force while probing a “haunted grave.” He calls it a demonic attack and connects it to the same “evil legions” described in 19th-century LDS texts. To him, it wasn’t psychosis or imagination — it was confirmation of his divine purpose.
From there, he recounts hearing a dozen disembodied voices outside his window shouting, “We hate your books!” and claims this was proof that Satan opposed his writing. For Chad, it all fit the narrative: he wasn’t an aspiring author with an obsession — he was a spiritual warrior under attack.
That mindset — the blending of fantasy, religion, and grandiosity — would become the foundation of his later relationship with Lori Vallow, the “prophetess” who believed their murders were part of God’s plan.
Tony breaks down how this letter foreshadowed everything that came next:
 In the letter, Daybell claims that while working as the sexton of a Utah cemetery, he was haunted by the ghost of a petty thief named Eddie — a spirit that supposedly opened gates, picked locks, and moved padlocks onto pegs. He writes that he eventually told Eddie to “go toward the light,” and that the disturbances stopped.
Then the letter descends into something far darker. Daybell describes being electrically jolted and shoved by an unseen force while probing a “haunted grave.” He calls it a demonic attack and connects it to the same “evil legions” described in 19th-century LDS texts. To him, it wasn’t psychosis or imagination — it was confirmation of his divine purpose.
From there, he recounts hearing a dozen disembodied voices outside his window shouting, “We hate your books!” and claims this was proof that Satan opposed his writing. For Chad, it all fit the narrative: he wasn’t an aspiring author with an obsession — he was a spiritual warrior under attack.
That mindset — the blending of fantasy, religion, and grandiosity — would become the foundation of his later relationship with Lori Vallow, the “prophetess” who believed their murders were part of God’s plan.
Tony breaks down how this letter foreshadowed everything that came next:
- The God complex behind Chad Daybell’s self-anointed mission.
- His habit of reframing delusion as divine validation.
- The chilling psychological progression from “I saw a ghost” to “I’m chosen to cleanse the world.”
 It’s one of the most haunting pieces of writing from any modern-day killer — not because of its ghost story, but because of the mind telling it.
#ChadDaybell #LoriVallow #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #ReligiousDelusion #MurderMystery #TonyBrueski #PrisonLetters
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
#ChadDaybell #LoriVallow #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #ReligiousDelusion #MurderMystery #TonyBrueski #PrisonLetters
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
11517 episodes
MP3•Episode home
Manage episode 516170018 series 2648298
Content provided by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tony Brueski and Real Story Media or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
 In this chilling segment of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski reads and dissects Chad Daybell’s Letter #7 — a rambling, supernatural account written years before the doomsday murders that would make him infamous.
In the letter, Daybell claims that while working as the sexton of a Utah cemetery, he was haunted by the ghost of a petty thief named Eddie — a spirit that supposedly opened gates, picked locks, and moved padlocks onto pegs. He writes that he eventually told Eddie to “go toward the light,” and that the disturbances stopped.
Then the letter descends into something far darker. Daybell describes being electrically jolted and shoved by an unseen force while probing a “haunted grave.” He calls it a demonic attack and connects it to the same “evil legions” described in 19th-century LDS texts. To him, it wasn’t psychosis or imagination — it was confirmation of his divine purpose.
From there, he recounts hearing a dozen disembodied voices outside his window shouting, “We hate your books!” and claims this was proof that Satan opposed his writing. For Chad, it all fit the narrative: he wasn’t an aspiring author with an obsession — he was a spiritual warrior under attack.
That mindset — the blending of fantasy, religion, and grandiosity — would become the foundation of his later relationship with Lori Vallow, the “prophetess” who believed their murders were part of God’s plan.
Tony breaks down how this letter foreshadowed everything that came next:
 In the letter, Daybell claims that while working as the sexton of a Utah cemetery, he was haunted by the ghost of a petty thief named Eddie — a spirit that supposedly opened gates, picked locks, and moved padlocks onto pegs. He writes that he eventually told Eddie to “go toward the light,” and that the disturbances stopped.
Then the letter descends into something far darker. Daybell describes being electrically jolted and shoved by an unseen force while probing a “haunted grave.” He calls it a demonic attack and connects it to the same “evil legions” described in 19th-century LDS texts. To him, it wasn’t psychosis or imagination — it was confirmation of his divine purpose.
From there, he recounts hearing a dozen disembodied voices outside his window shouting, “We hate your books!” and claims this was proof that Satan opposed his writing. For Chad, it all fit the narrative: he wasn’t an aspiring author with an obsession — he was a spiritual warrior under attack.
That mindset — the blending of fantasy, religion, and grandiosity — would become the foundation of his later relationship with Lori Vallow, the “prophetess” who believed their murders were part of God’s plan.
Tony breaks down how this letter foreshadowed everything that came next:
- The God complex behind Chad Daybell’s self-anointed mission.
- His habit of reframing delusion as divine validation.
- The chilling psychological progression from “I saw a ghost” to “I’m chosen to cleanse the world.”
 It’s one of the most haunting pieces of writing from any modern-day killer — not because of its ghost story, but because of the mind telling it.
#ChadDaybell #LoriVallow #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #ReligiousDelusion #MurderMystery #TonyBrueski #PrisonLetters
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
#ChadDaybell #LoriVallow #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #ReligiousDelusion #MurderMystery #TonyBrueski #PrisonLetters
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
11517 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.


 
 
 
