Warning this episode contains details that some listeners may find disturbing. 1916 Hungary A tenant at a quaint farmhouse in a town outside of Budapest had been called off to fight in the First World War. Not unlike most men of fighting age in Europe at the time, the tenant was rumored to have been killed in action, so the landlord decided to go inspect the property and perhaps prepare it for a future resident.
But when the landlord arrived, he found multiple metal drums, and on closer look, inside each and every one was a dead body. The tale of the serial killer Bela Quiche is infamous, but most people outside of Hungary don't know the full story. This is a study of strange. Welcome back to the show. I'm Michael May. My returning guest today is my Joe Jordan Slansky. Use me. Hold the phone. That should be swapped. I'm your Jordan Slansky. Are we each other? Jordan Slansky? No, you're.
You're not my Jordan Slansky at all. So I feel like. Either one of us is Conan O'Brien, though. No, no, but I'm more way more. Completely off the rails. So this is Amy Schiller, my returning guest, also known as my wife. Hello, Amy. Yes. Do you know what we are talking about today? No, because. Well, I mean, you've told me some things. You've said the words Bella keys. You said yes, Yakub. We are Kopecky yak yak. I don't know, there's some kind of Yakub thing.
And then, I read a thing that said something about bodies and barrels. So that's where I'm coming at. I've been piecing things together in my own brain. Yeah, and I bet I'm really right. Spot on. Correct? Yes. So we are talking about a very infamous serial killer from Hungary. Actually, at the time, it was Austria-Hungary just to be historically correct. A gentleman named Bela Quiche. In English, we normally say kis with his name, but I've been working on my pronunciation.
Bela quiche and very infamous serial killer. And you are a a huge subscriber, consumer lover of serial killer stories and. Truly love them. And she has. Been getting up. I am being sarcastic because, that is not true at all. So I don't want to scare you away from this episode. I do and sincerely know, like I'm not trying to make a joke. I love having you on the show, but I do. I did hesitate with this topic to have you on, but it is. It's an odd one.
There is are some interesting little quirks that I think you will have some insight and, enjoy. And I'll try not to make it too scary for you. So you've just entrapped me, and now we're going to see what happens. I guess. I guess so, yes. So do you know where Hungary is? Testing some American geography here. So, do you know where in Europe? Near. Near Germany? Yes, yes it is. It's south. It no longer borders Germany. When it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was, it did border Germany.
But it's over there. It's a little southeast ish of Germany. Okay. And the First World War in the, what, 1914, I think is when that started, in the First World War, that is I mean, it's a city. Austria-Hungary is a central issue in that war. In fact, you know, Franz Ferdinand, being assassinated started the whole thing.
So there's a lot of people fighting during the time of this story of Bella Quiche, which I think when you look at the true crime stories that happen around big wars, one of the reasons I think the details and things can get lost in the shuffle is there's a dragon. At the time, the biggest war the world had ever seen was taking place there. While this is happening, there's a lot going going on. So so he was able to get in a lot of murders under the radar.
That's what it looks like. That's what it looks like. And I will also say before I dive into this, because it is Hungary, because it's a well-known story, but a lot of the specific details haven't necessarily traveled over here where we live in the United States, across that big old ocean. Some details over time have been kind of lost or muddled, in, in sort of the research of this character on, I'll try to clear some of at least what I can clear up. I'm going to clear up today, a lot of it.
We still don't know. So let me dive in to Bella Quiche, please. Dive. Dive right in. So Mr. Quiche was born. That sounds like I'm talking about a breakfast of some kind of so very eggy. He is very eggy. He was born in or around July 28th, 1877, in a small village. The. The village was known for sort of rustic charm and sprawling fields, and it's in this peaceful setting that Bela Quiche spent his early years.
And little did anyone suspect that this little House on the Prairie type of setting would be the birthplace of one of history's most horrifying serial killers? He was known, and now a lot of this is just rumors, because we don't know a lot about his childhood, but there are sort of anecdotal stories that he was a bright and curious child, and outside of that, we don't know much at all about him or his family or his upbringing.
What we do know is that as a young man moved to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and this is right around the turn of the 20th century. And at that time there was a lot of change. There was a lot of modernization for the city and, you know, wide growth, which offered a lot of opportunities for someone like quiche because he was a skilled worker. He was a tinsmith. Do you know what a tinsmith is? Someone who works with tin. Yeah. It's like, well, like metal or tinsmith, I guess.
Tin specifically, only tin you're not allowed to work with on that one. I like to work with. Any other metal. It's a very specific niche. And yeah, so. It was big. It did call for, for just working with tin specifically. So now Tin Cell is something different. But it was you know, you could you could also branch off into that. I'm assuming. You know, blacksmiths works with hot things. They melt metal and they bend it and they shape things and create stuff.
Tin Smith is like a blacksmith, but without the hot, without the fire. So like a cold, like a blacksmith. A cold blacksmith. You heard it here first. That is a new name for Tin Smith. You're actually. I'm going to just because I don't want to get too many letters about my description of this, I will pull up a proper definition of a tinsmith. A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin and other.
Other light metals. Yeah. Sometimes known as tinker, tinker, tin man, or tin plate worker or white smith. So there you go. Interesting. Interesting, indeed. So I've lost my place. So they would have made the Tin Man. Yes, yes, a tin a tin smith may very well have made the Tin Man. Yes. Now, why would you have made a man out of tin? I think we're we're going off course. Well, the wicked just came out, so you know it's true. You get to take. It back to the Wizard of Oz and Wicked.
We're making this very timely. Yes. Around 1900 again. We don't know the exact year here, but quiche moved to Cincotta, a small town on the outskirts of Budapest, which today is actually part of Budapest. And it was like moving to the suburbs like you do. Cincotta was a peaceful community, probably not unlike the town that quiche was born in and its residents primarily engaged in farming and small scale trades. Quiche.
Quiche rented a modest house at nine Kossuth Street a simple home, small yard, kind of typical house for that region, with a lot of charm. And, I don't know. Again, I kind of go to, like, a European little house on the prairie is what's in my head, even though that's probably not not correct at all. So in Cincotta kit quiche continue to work as a tinsmith. He was described as his neighbors, as quiet, unassuming, but very polite and very handsome. And he did have a nice fluffy mustache.
Oh, don't. Yeah. Don't get too excited. I'll try to contain myself. Contain yourself. You know, me. And fluffy mustaches. Just can't get enough. Just like serial killers. Ooh. Serial killer with a fluffy mustache. Oh, I see why you didn't want me to know too much about this ahead of time. Yes. You're going to have a new celebrity crush. I've been having you, Hall, pass me this. Absolutely. Dead serial killer. So. Oh. Or is he dead? He was born in. When? 18, 1877.
I sure hope he's dead. And you don't know? He's definitely off my hall pass list. Anything is possible. In fact, one of his nicknames is The Vampire of Cincotta. So maybe. Oh, know, I will explain that a little bit later on in the story. So most accounts I want to say it most accounts when you like just Google Bella quiche and you look online, you read some articles. Those people describe him as being very secluded, anti-social, even didn't really talk to his neighbors.
They would know him as polite, but he kept to himself and stayed up late at night and they would see his light on and. But no one talked to him. That's actually not true. He was actually relatively social. He would throw parties for the whole town. He would go to church every week and mingle and hang out. And everybody said he was very charismatic and again, handsome. There's a lot of like, handsome talk around the guy. But unbeknownst to his neighbors, kiss harbored a dark and twisted side.
His fascination with mechanics also involved a fascination with chemistry, which initially was seen as harmless. But, there was a more sinister aspect, as I'm sure everybody's already well aware. One thing Kirsch began doing was posting ads in newspapers, and this is allegedly to excuse me, this also allegedly was using a fake name of Hoffman when he would do this. So it's like the personals at the time or swiping right at the. Time, missed connections. And it's very similar to that.
But he would. Want it, right. It was like wanted ads, but it really was personals he was looking for. Or he he'd advertise himself as like, I could use a wife and single women around hungry could could write in and be like, I am looking for a husband. That's how we met. It's exactly how we met one. Another reason why I wanted you on the show. Because you have personal experience that relates to the personal ads.
So much sense. Yes. Now I'm going to get into some of the details of what would happen with this a little later on, but just know and again, it's probably very obvious this is not always a good thing for the ladies. Communicating with Bella Quiche. Shocking because as this was happening, women in and amongst the area were going missing. No. Now in terms of like again, kind of miss misinformation floating out there, about quiche, some sources say that he was married for a short period of time.
Some say he wasn't. Some say he was married twice. I have some information about this that I think I've figured it out. However, I may have it wrong. And also, I would love some clarification. So, listeners, if you are, if you know the Bella Quiche story and you have more information about his his whether he's been married or wasn't married or whatever, I would love some information on that. So feel free to email me at a study of strange at gmail.com.
And I bring that up because I'm going to read a little quote here from all that's interesting about Bella Quiche. So here it is a quote. In 1912, quiche married a woman 15 years his junior, named Marie, but shortly after she began an affair with an artist named Bakari. These two lovers became Kiss's first victims when they disappeared that year. Bella quiche tried to explain the disappearance by claiming Marie had run off with Bakery to America. I don't know why I said it like that to America.
Because you're you. Guys. I'm me and you're married to me. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm okay with it. So he was married again. I'm going by the my deductions in my research, if you will, make me think that this is true. This has come up in enough sources that he was married. I think this is around 1912 when Marie, quote unquote, ran off to America with her artist lover. And. Yeah. So, so that happens around 1912 and the war and the war is a coming in.
People are aware that there's a lot of infighting. There's a lot of political turmoil in Europe specifically at this time. And it's also when Kirsch started collecting large barrel drums and keeping them on his property like. You do. Like you do. No one knew what the purpose was, and he had told people that it was for storing gasoline in case there is a big war comes about or. Yeah, and he was also he did show an interest in chemistry. So people may have thought, oh, I'm things composting.
Any of those things people aren't going to jump if you see a neighbor with barrels in their in their yard. Even in our neighborhood, I'm not going to be like dead bodies. What are they doing? I'm going to be like, oh, okay. All right. My I immediately in our neighborhood I go to rain barrels. Yep, yep. I in in Hungary I would go maybe towards like wine production. I don't move barrels because the barrels made out of tin perhaps or where they made out. Oh would I do what I it but. I'm metal.
I think they were metal drums. But they're. Yeah. I don't know if they were tin, but they were metal. Let's just we're just going to decide that they were metal made out of ten. They're all made out of tin. So before World War one starts, the the exact year is debated, but, hired a housekeeper named Mrs. Jacobi. I practiced this last night. Amy's given me the word. I know you did. Jacobi. It's. No. Yeah. Yaqub. It's because it's like Jacob's Jacobins. That's what I want. I'm going to go with.
So he. I take two, but I'm going to keep all this in for fun. So around this time, right before World War one, years are debated, though. He hires a housekeeper, Mrs. Jacobi, to help around the home, and Mrs. Jacobi claimed to that she was, I would say, a good way to put this. She was kept out of one room of the home. It was like a private room, and Bella was like, don't ever go in there. And he apparently kept it locked. And so she allegedly never went inside this private room.
And unbeknownst to her, possibly, and others in town, women are still kind of, disappearing. And it's not local women. It's like women from somewhere else. And they may pass through town, but then eventually they're missing. Now, some accounts say that people and including Mrs. Jacobi, had saw women visit Bela Quiche at his home in this time period, women that he was probably corresponding with in those personal ads, but they would never stay for long.
Hey, kisses handsome or quiche and they pronounce it correctly, is handsome. He's smart. He's got that big fluffy mustache. He's got rings as the kids with kids got ribs. So he he very well might have been a ladies man. So people aren't taking this as a sign that there's a serial killer living in Cincotta. And then World War one cranks up the Great War at the war to end all wars. Thank God that's so true. And no wars ever happened again.
And quiche was either drafted or enlisted in the military, as were most men of adult fighting age. And quiche left his home in the care of Mrs. Yuk Abetz. And again, this is around 1914. We don't have specific dates, but it's around there and a few years go by and Keisha's landlord comes by the property to clean it up.
Check it out, because there had been rumors that quiche had died in battle and some actually very formal accounts, that he had died in battle, and so his rent hadn't really been paid. You know, you imagine that happens. So the landlord comes over, inspects the property, he's going to clean it up, figure out if he's going to lease it out again. You know, the landlord things. And he sees these metal drums all over the property. And he does get curious. He wants to see what's inside.
Now there's a couple different stories of what happens next. One is that he opens it up and inside he finds a dead body preserved and in some kind of alcohol. Another story. Wine. The the dead body wine. Well, that's. Oh, that is possible. That's a. Flavoring. Another story is that he couldn't open it and so he, like, jammed a stick or a metal rod into it and poked a hole. And he immediately got hit with the smell of, you know, decomposing death and was horrified.
And guess what? There's a big war going on in Europe. He knew what that smell was, and he kind of freaks out and he calls the police, no matter how he found out what was inside the barrels that, that dude had to have, gone through something that was a rough day. Yeah, I can imagine. And now we are going to share. This is first time ever I. This is a podcast breaking new ground. I actually uncovered a recording of a phone call that the landlord made to the chief inspector. Detective.
I don't think that was the official title in Budapest asking for people to come out. Make recordings back then. How dare you? This is. This is really tough research. No one has ever come across this before. I'm the first person. This must be the first recording. Now, when we first first recorded, that was since. It was before that. It's like before then. Okay. All right, I'll buy it. Sure. Yeah. So it's a real recording. Real recording. And here. We go. Can't wait to listen to it.
This is detective Naggy. Hello? Yes, hello. Dude, you've got to get out here. Oh, God. There's been. Oh, God. What's the issue, sir? Holy shit. Bruh, you're not going to believe it. There's, like, bodies and shit. Bodies. You mean dead bodies? Why else would I be calling? There's bodies everywhere. All over the flippin place. Let's slow down. So I'm trying to understand, broski. Put dead bodies in barrels. They're all over my property. Come quick. Barrels!
I can't rent this place like this. Who's going to clean? The fuck do I have to pay a service? Do I tip? Do you. Do I not tip? What do I do again? Sir, I'm trying to understand. Slow down. There are dead bodies on your property. Explain, please. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I, I rent this place out. It's ancient quarter. My tenant, Bela quiche. He. I heard he had died in the war. And, you know, he can't pay rent if he's dead, right? So I came out here to clean it up, but I found these barrels, metal drums.
Some might say they were made out of maybe tin containers. You know, there's dead bodies inside all of them. How many barrels are we talking about? I don't know what's what's, bruh. Good Lord, I'm on my way. It's amazing how much in a Hungarian landlord sounds like you. That's incredible, isn't it? Yeah. It's amazing. I mean, I do have some Hungarian ancestry, so that must be what it is. Yes.
So, as much as that call is very interesting and historic, and they also spoke English, which I think is because a war is going on. There's a you just sort of cultures and languages and stuff. But in truth and. Real English on Duolingo. And Rosetta Stone. Yes, yes. Who should sponsor this podcast. Brought to you by this? I don't have you been wanting to learn a new language, but you don't. They're offering 50% off right now. I know that from listening to other podcasts for Rosetta Stone.
Does advertised use the code? There is no code we can steal one of the ones from. Like the other, I guess. Yeah, smart lists or yeah, three questions. But then pay me. It's all right. All right. So in reality, the landlord did call the police. And again, this is where some interesting like, I think maybe some language changes happen, but sometimes, the the detective chief is Charles Nagy. Sometimes he's called Doctor Nagy, and I don't again, maybe he is a doctor. That's very possible.
But also sometimes there could be a little translation issue there. But anyway, Detective Nagy, gets the call he's sent out to Cincotta. They start investigating immediately. Oh, by the way, this is 1916. I think I did say that when the landlord went to the house and and Kish had been gone for about two years. So. Mrs. Jacobi, it's still work. There was still there. And and the police sho show up to investigate.
They start opening all the drums and in each and every one of them there are dead bodies, some insects, some tied with ropes, some with clothes, some naked. There's a variety of descriptions of all of it, but there's there's a lot. And, some bodies aren't even in barrels. They found some buried on the property as well. All in all, it's around 23 or 24 bodies on the property. Wow. Yes.
Man was busy. Yes. And the ones in the barrels were preserved in a type of wood, alcohol, blood had also been drained from the bodies, hence the nickname that you often find associated with Bella Kish, the vampire of Jinn. Koda. I will be quick to point out the blood is drained not because he was drinking it. Don't believe those stories. There are those that are out there. It's a preservation thing. He was. He was preserving the bodies so he would drain them. He wasn't drinking the blood.
Well, I guess we don't know, do we? Don't know that. Don't assume. Didn't make the jump. But I don't want to assume too much. I'd rather look at it a little more realistically. But he very well could have. You never know. To think that to preserve the bodies. And then what do you do with it afterwards? Make a. Blood bottle. Yeah. You got a lot of blood around, I mean. Yeah, might as well drink it. Might as well use it. So, Jacob, it's a lot of people suspect that she knew something was up.
Like she worked on the property. She was close with Bella Kish. He she was suspected for. Maybe she was helping him find victims or just cover him up. However, she claimed she never knew about this. She was like, he's a good employer. He pays me well. He's always very nice to me. I don't know what's going on. And they I've. Never had that problem with him. He's always very nice. And they asked her about this private room and she's like, don't go in there. That's this private office.
Don't go into the private room. But obviously they're going to get their way into that room. And she opens it up for him. And it's not a big room. Sorry. You have question. Question. She's able to open it I think. Yeah. Yeah she is I think there's a key. And because she's the housekeeper she has it. But she was always told don't go in there, don't clean in there or whatever. So she but we don't know. Who knows, maybe she snuck in a few times. We don't know.
But she opened it up, and it's just like a simple office. There's, like a desk. There's not a lot of stuff in there, but there are books, and some of the books are like chemistry books and involve things like poison information and best ways to kill people with poison and, some things like that. And also, more importantly, in the desk they found tons of letters. I think there's letters to 74 different women and it's correspondence. So it's not just 74 letters.
It's like correspondence with at least 74 women. And this is how we are able to piece together this modus operandi, this M.O. or operation, whatever you want to call it, the way he would operate, which is he would communicate with women with these personal ads. He would talk about marriage, and sometimes he would say, like, I'll take care of you as a husband. But in the meantime, if you have any money, send it my way. I'll fix up the house. I'll make things nice for your arrival, send it over.
And people would send him money and maybe they would show up in town and then go missing. Nowadays he'd do it all by text. Absolutely text or like messaging on Instagram or. DM.
Or whatever. Yeah, and hey, you are so well identifying the bodies because they were preserved that were able to identify a lot of the bodies, sometimes even by clothes, because some of the clothes were were kept relatively decently and, Inspector Nate Nagy was able to again, kind of use the letters, use the bodies to start to piece all these stories together of how Bella Quiche operated.
And two women came to visit Detective Nagy at one point, who was Mrs. Steven Toth and her daughter in law, and she had this story about her daughter Margaret. And Margaret had gone to Budapest to work. And on one of her visits back home, Margaret introduced her mother to this gentleman with a big, fluffy, wonderful mustache and a quiche and Bella quiche persuaded the mother to give him some good, some items, some money on the promise that he would marry her daughter.
Afterwards, correspondence stops with her daughter. She can't get in touch and she finds out that they never got married, so she comes to Chincoteague. She approaches Bella Quiche and she's like, why didn't you marry me? Where's my daughter? You never got married. You promised. I sent you money. And cash claimed that he would just want to delay the marriage. And Margaret kind of got upset about that. And so she left for America. Of course. You remember.
That's also the story he talked about with his wife when his wife went missing was this idea of, oh, they just get we got upset with each other. So they left for America. So that tends to be one of his excuses. If anybody found out about it now. Yeah I don't have it in my notes here. So a it's probably it's probably farther along in my notes and I'll confirm it there.
But they also found out the, the detectives that he had been involved in multiple lawsuits that a of a similar nature where he was, like, promising to marry somebody. The family would send him money and then he wouldn't get married. And so people had sued him. So he was doing this a lot, which, to be quite honest, that's a lot of time. It's a lot of energy and effort. And he was still working with tin. Is still working with tin every day, going into this town. Of 9 to 5, with the 25 at. The tin.
At the tin shop making the tin and then at home on the tinder. Yes. Trying to find love in the air quotes? Yes. But it's a bit busy. I understand how people have time for this kind of stuff. It well, it also it goes to show you the it's a. It's a like time consuming hobby. It is but that's. Well and you know serial killers, that's there. That's what they want. That's their, that's their thing. They I'm sure. It's more of a life calling than a hobby. That's an amazing way to put it.
It's more of a life calling than a hobby. I'll give you an example, too, of going above and beyond in trying to keep up this ruse and making sure that he was living out his fantasies of killing people, because I'm sure that was part of it, is with that Margaret situation I just told you about. He actually had Margaret before he killed her, before he strangled her and put her in a drum with preservative alcohol.
He had her write a letter to her mother claiming that she was running away to America. And I don't know how he convinced her to do that, but he convinced her to do it. Sealed up the letter, killed her, and then mailed the letter to the mother. So he's thinking ahead. He's thinking ahead. And all in all, again, there's around 23 sometimes you see reported 24 bodies on the property, and two were his wife and her lover. So they didn't go to America? They did not go to America.
America was his like, nice farm upstate. Yeah. Or like my girlfriend in Canada. I have a girlfriend. She lives in Canada. Yeah. So, the. Because Bella Kish was not officially dead in the war. I mean, I think there were reports that he was. But here's the here's the kind of difficult thing for a detective in this situation is when you try to confirm that Bella keisha's dead. Bella quiche is kind of like John Smith or Patrick Williams or something like that. In America, there's a very common name.
So confirming that the Bella quiche from Rosa Street in Chin Coda is has been killed in action in the war was actually very difficult. So they do release a warrant for arrest for Bella Quiche and his heinous crimes. And immediately press catches on word of this massive, crazy serial killer spreads. And there's rumors that Bella quiche was alive.
So one of these stories is that on, on October 4th, 1916, Nagy received a letter that stated that quiche was in a Serbian hospital recuperating from being injured during the war. So he sent out the police officers arrived. And this is very much it sounds like a movie. I want to know the real truth behind this story.
But they show up in the hospital, they go to the bed where Keisha's supposed to be, and it's like they look at the guy in the bed and it's not blackish at all, like it's not even, you know. Well, I mean, they have photographs and photographs. There's descriptions. There's also hospital records, but it's not the name of the guy. It's not even a guy with the same name. So it's very much like when you read about it, people make it up.
Like he swapped the bodies like Bela Quiche was there and somehow cut when the people were coming for him. So he, like, took the unconscious guy from the bed over and, like, put it in his bed. Like, that's the way the story's kind of sound. I'm sure it's not quite crazy like that. And if quiche was alive and he was really at that hospital, I don't think he knew people were coming for him.
So I love the idea of a big old switcheroo happening, but I don't think it was that intricate if it was in fact true. But that's one of the stories that has has survived the the test of time is that there were reports that he was in this hospital, and they did send officers to go get him there, but he was not there. There are other occasions and rumors and anecdotes of him being around.
There's speculation that Bela Quiche had perhaps faked his death by exchanging identities with soldiers during the war and afterward, there are numerous sightings where people suspected that they saw him, the notorious Vampire of Hungary, and including like seeing him in the French Legion army like he or French Foreign Legion, is what it's called. People suspected that he was a member of the French Foreign Legion. People were thought they saw him in, like, Istanbul.
There's all these crazy rumors and the most notorious and best potential. Best in terms of best story of potential sighting from him happened all the way in 1932. So that's where I was 16 years later, New York homicide detective Henry Oswald, a man who allegedly prided himself on reading knowledge and soaking up information like crazy on old cases.
He was walking in Times Square, and there was a man coming out of the subway that caught his attention, and it took Oswald half of a second to realize and put it together in his head, that this guy had an uncanny resemblance to Bela Quiche. The mustache? Yes, the fluffy mustache vampire of Chin Cota. And he had been missing for, like I said, 16 years. At this point, Oswald was certain it was him that he was seeing this notorious serial killer, and he was never able to find him after that.
But there was a subsequent rumor in New York at the same time that Bela Quiche was working as a janitor. But that account cannot be verified, so it's a little bit like I'm going to make a reference to a movie you have not seen, but it's my listeners will know it, but it's a little bit like the end of silence of the lambs with, Hannibal Lecter getting away and having an old friend for lunch, walking off into the sunset. So Bela Quiche very well might have survived this whole ordeal.
Having him for lunch. Meaning not that they had lunch together, but that he actually literally had him for lunch. Ate him for lunch. That's what you're saying, right? Way to spoil a 30 year old movie, Amy. How dare you? Spoiler I just guessed I've not seen the movie. I could be wrong. And one of the most perfect movies ever made. But yeah, it's not for you. It's very scary. You're not going to like it. Nope. But it's got great, great stuff in there.
So that is our story of Bela Quiche, the notorious vampire of Austria-Hungary. The Tin Man vampire. I appreciate you, bearing with me and playing along in this story, but it is a crazy story. It is a weird story. And just the idea that this guy was brazen enough to hide bodies of victims of his in his own property. Yeah. Or not even his. Not his property, his rental. But it's like there are pictures of the scene and like the it's like, right there at the road.
This isn't like out back behind a fence. I mean, some of them I think were, but like some of them out front in front of the house, unless all the police had moved them before the photos were taken. But it's like there's, there's some brazenness to that and which I think is very common for serial killers and, and it shows you this kind of persistent need and fantasy that's, very dark and scary. This is a it's a very terrifying serial killer story, to be very honest.
Even though we kind of had light fun with it today. But finding that recording of that phone call is amazing, right? That is amazing. I mean, just absolutely, like, spectacular. And it it worked. It fit in so seamlessly into your podcast. It just felt like like we weren't even cutting to something else. Like that was just amazing. Yeah, absolutely. It was, Well, thank you very much. Do you have any final thoughts about Mr. Quiche now? I don't know what. Like, what do you have a question for?
You have a question I can answer. Do you have any thoughts about. Well, okay, well, this might be interesting. So because you don't consume a lot of true crime, you don't read about serial killers like I do for fun? Just in terms of a mental makeup, like if you were to, what is the FBI when they have the psychological profile? Yes. Like if you were going to create a psychological profile of Mr. Bela Quiche, what do you think that would be?
I don't know, I, I don't know, I mean, it strikes me that his first two victims were him being jilted, you know, or being, you know, an affair. Although, didn't he have an affair, too, or was that not just the wife? I think it was just the wife. But we also don't know what he was doing at the same time that she was having an affair. So. Okay, so, so. But. All right, so. So we start with, the lover and the and the wife and, you know, maybe that's the inciting incident.
Maybe that's the thing that sort of like, triggers the rest of it. Like, who knows? I think there has to be some kind of a predisposition toward, oh my goodness, I've been cheated upon. Now I shall kill everyone in the world, kind of thing. Yeah. And we don't know. Like I said earlier, we don't know much about his childhood. We don't know much about his parents. It's bright and curious. It is bright and curious. It's kind of like bright what people say, but we really don't know much about.
And we don't know what happened when he moved to Budapest in an Italian. And also some of that, that information is kind of all muddled up over time, because some people say he moved it to encode in 1900. Some people say 1912 is when he moved. So it's a little all over the place. So some of those details are, again, they're just muddy and kind of lost to history a little bit.
Although I'm sure people in Hungary that know this and are closer to it, there's probably specifics that are much harder to find for a podcaster in California. But, but yeah, we don't know the makeup, but obviously something something happened in, in him at some point that kind of led him in this way. But we don't know when he started killing. And there is that report that like his wife was his first victim, but she might not a bit like there already may have been he already.
You know, pieced together based off of who they found. Did they know who they found on the property? Some of them, I don't think everybody. So just some of them, but again, some of that information is just kind of muddled in research. So and again, most of the time you don't even read that it was married like that was that hit hit me later on and research when I finally came across that in a book and it was like, oh,
like that normally doesn't come across when you read about these guys. So. And were they only was it one male? And then the rest were all female bodies that were found? That is a great question. The only specifics I found about all his victims were that quote unquote, some were men. So I think it was more than one man. If I go if I go by that sentence, but I don't know other specifics. I don't I don't know how many.
That's interesting because then all of a sudden it's not just the, the, the, you know, promising to marry you scam. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And miss, yeah. Qubits. That is an interesting thing, because a lot of people do suspect that she knew more than she was letting on, and it you just couldn't prove it. You know, there was there is no case against her. What if she is him done? And, we figured it out, I don't know. Yeah. What if he's in a wig and, like, dress? He's Mrs.
Doubtfire ING it. Maybe, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, he's just sort of hiding out. Yeah. Fake. Oh, yeah. I'm going off to war, leaving my housekeeper here. Yep. Doo doo doo doo doo. You know, it's Mrs. Jacobi. It's. You're, very good at working with ten. So good at working with ten. Well, you got you've got to be able to work with ten when you're, a housekeeper, you do. You do something that you have to do.
Yes. Putting things in and taking them back out of ten, creating the ten in general, to then be able to put things into it and take things out of it. All. Letters from ten Smith that have been offended by this episode today. Please direct them a and attention to Miss Amy Schuler. Wait. Letters of Tin Smith. White letters from tinsmith, objecting to how we've besmirched their profession. I don't have anything against tin Smiths.
It sounds like you're making fun about a friend in front of tinsmith. No, I think I mean, I, I. Okay, so here's the thing. I will fully admit, I did not know that tin tinners tinners. Is that what you. That's one of. Them. Yeah. Okay. I did not know that that existed as a profession. And so I'm glad to know. No, that. Absolutely. That is why we call this a study of strange. It's not just studying strange things. It's about learning stuff. There we go. Week. I would say that, that's for sure.
Is you working with tin? It's not strange. No, it's not strange. Is interesting. I'm just saying we learn things on the show, and now we're in a circle of, If we have any listeners left. Thank you for listening to the show. That you. Can cut us whatever you want out of this. Nap. Now, I want people to hear the real, the real us. We got to share. Okay? I'm want to share what we really like. And now we're quiet. That's what we're really like. This is good radio.
Well, thank you for being on the show. Thank you for taking time. We do have to finish up because we do have an eight year old inside. That's probably lighting things on fire somewhere. So we should check in on him. Sure. He's just drawing. Or lighting things on fire. Well, for seeking. Tins. Or making it. Or maybe if he wants to be a tinsmith, I will, happily support that. That'd be amazing. Would we describe him as bright and curious? Yeah, yeah. Oh, no. I'm no. Oh. That's terrible.
So, Amy, where can everybody find you? What do you want to promote? You've got, I don't know, you can find me on my website, the aligned actor.com. I'm a life coach. I'm an actor. I'm have, I'm a practitioner of mindfulness and neuro linguistic programing. So that's my that's my website. I'm on the Instagram. I joined the blue sky. Because why not. That's also the aligned actor.com. That's what I am on there. Yeah Instagram I'm Amy blurb spelled.
However it is that you're going to spell it in your show notes. Yes I will spell it. As long as you spell it correctly. I think I think I've, I've known you long enough now that I should hopefully get that right every now and then, but she blurb is a Germanic name and that is very close to where our story took place today. Very curious why I sound so much like that recording. That's right. Yes. Because probably. Related. Yeah. Roots. Absolutely.
Okay. Well thank you again Amy for being on the show. Thanks for having. You in just a minute. As I walk in said sounds great. And that will do it for a study of strange today. Thank you for listening. If you're new to the show hit that subscribe follow button wherever you are and please leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify. It goes a long way to helping others find our show and I have a bit of news. 2024 is coming to an end here soon.
There's only going to be a few more episodes kind of randomly throughout the end of November and December, and then 2025. When that comes around, there will be a slightly different format, and I'm going to have new guest, some exciting stories. And I'm just, really thrilled to have some more time and energy to devote to this show, which is just it's just my favorite thing to do and I hope that comes across.
So thank you to everybody that's been listening already, and I look forward to making more a study of strange for you coming very soon. That'll do it for today. Thank you. And good night.