corpse
| Published | 25 November 2010 |
|---|---|
| Episode Number | 2 |
| Narrator | Mike Vendetti |
| Duration | 13m 11s |
| Transcript Availability | Vol. 2 |
"corpse" is the second episode of the Knifepoint Horror podcast by Soren Narnia. It was originally released on 25 November 2010, and is narrated by Mike Vendetti.
An alternate version of "corpse", narrated by Soren Narnia, was released on Patreon on 23 August 2021.
Synopsis
The corpse of a remorseless killer refuses to decay, breaking the sanity of a dangerous man who becomes obsessed with it.[1]
Characters
Narrator
Oliver Kraft
Other Characters
- Strom Sullivan ("The Grin Man")
- Hoffman (Sullivan's stud poker opponent in 1966)
- Kraft's father (morgue assistant around 1991/2)
Date and Locations
Dates
- 1969 (date of Sullivan's death, stated to be thirty-seven years prior to the events of "corpse")
- 1991 (date of first exhumation of Sullivan's corpse)
- 1992 (approximate date of second exhumation of Sullivan's corpse)
- 2004 (approximate date of Kraft's decapitation of Sullivan's corpse)
- 2005 (date of fourth and final exhumation of Sullivan's corpse)
Location
Washington, D.C.
- St Elizabeth's Hospital
- Glenwood Cemetery, Lincoln Road (Sullivan's burial site)
- Elmo's, Franklin Street (store claiming to have the chair that Sullivan sat upon after Hoffman's murder)
- National Arboretum
- Anacostia River
Other Locations
- Tennessee (location of Sullivan's execution)
- Alouette University, Oregon
Story Notes and Observations
Oliver Kraft
- Kraft states he is currently a patient at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, and is "probably never going to get out of [there] while [he lives].
- It is stated that Kraft grew up in the Brookland area of Washington, D.C.. where rumours of Sullivan's death and corpse were passed around by local children. A local store names Elmo's on Franklin Street claimed to have the chair that Sullivan was found sitting in after his murder of Hoffman.
- Kraft states that when he was around nine years old, his father showed him a photograph of Sullivan's grinning face, presumably taken during the first or second exhumation. Kraft explains that his father had been an attendant at the city morgue. Kraft's father used the photograph to scare him when Kraft misbehaved. Eventually, Kraft stole the photograph and buried it, but Kraft's father began to terrify him with Sullivan's severed left hand. Kraft's father explained that The Grin Man had tried to "get in here", but Kraft's father had stopped him.
- Kraft states that he "knew as long as [his] father was alive, The Grin Man wouldn't be able to hurt [him]", but that his father had died whilst he had been staying in a hospital "they put [him] in for killing dogs on the street and some other things." He also explains that when he got out of the hospital, he was almost a full grown adult.
- After leaving the hospital, Kraft secures a job as the caretaker of Glenwood Cemetery, where he would stand at Sullivan's grave and "sense him getting stronger." He explains that he began to dig up Sullivan's corpse when he "knew he was close to getting out", in order to remove Sullivan's head from his body. This constitutes a third exhumation of Sullivan's corpse. It it stated that this takes place around a year before the university students attempt an exhumation in June 2005.
- When Kraft was discovered to be responsibly for the beheading, he was found asleep on a chair in his group house, in a similar fashion to how Sullivan was found in 1966.
- Kraft states that when he was sawing off Sullivan's head, the jaw has closed suddenly on his finger, drawing blood, which had eventually developed into an infection. Kraft believes his blood has now been poisoned by "The Grin Man", even though it's "been a year and a half since I touched him." This would presumably put the date of this story at around the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006.
- While on painkillers, Kraft confesses that the head of Sullivan was buried in the National Arboretum on the edge of the Anacostia River. Kraft explains that he buried the head facing away from the city, presumably facing east. Kraft also explains that he panicked during the burial, so the head is likely to be buried only eighteen inches deep.
- Kraft closes his story by explaining he wishes to be cremated when he dies, as there still may be a way for The Grin Man to get him if he is in the ground.
Strom Sullivan, "The Grin Man"
- It is stated that Sullivan's grandfather, who he never knew, had set up a trust to ensure all members of his family were buried in Washington, D.C. Sullivan's body was brought to the city by train.
- In 1966, after Sullivan loses his poker game to Hoffman, they begin to argue. Hoffman's Doberman pinscher attacks Sullivan by biting his leg. Later that evening, Sullivan limps to Hoffman's hotel, where he decapitates Hoffman in his sleep before falling asleep in a folding chair outside the room.
- In 1991, the Project for Fair Detainment proposes to exhume Sullivan's body in an attempt to make death by electrocution illegal. It is stated that Sullivan's execution "almost burned [his] scalp off, and his hands had gone utterly black". The exhumation takes place, and it is stated that Sullivan's body was "almost perfectly preserved after more than twenty years in the ground". Further to this, his eyes are stated to be wide open and his mouth stretched into a "freakish grin."
- In the year following Sullivan's first exhumation, information about his strange lack of decomposition spreads throughout the medical community. As a result, the medical department of Alouette University in Oregon requests another exhumation. It is noted during this second exhumation that Sullivan's left hand is missing from his body.
- The story of Sullivan's death and apparent nability to truly decompose turns into an urban legend in the years following the second exhumation.
- A fourth, unofficial, exhumation is completed in June 2005, by two students from George Washington University in an attempt to verify the rumours. It is then discovered that the body is missing its head.