Appeals, Alibis & the Lady in Black: When a Ghost Story Turns Into a History Lesson
One of the things we love most about Research & Rabbit Holes is that sometimes we start looking for answers and end up finding entirely different questions. That was definitely the case with The Dead Files episode "The Lady in Black".
When we wrapped up our recap of the episode, we thought we'd spend a little time digging into the history behind the house, the family who lived there, and maybe learn a bit more about the mysterious Lady in Black herself. Instead, we found ourselves tumbling headfirst into a century-old maze of faith healers, courtroom drama, genealogy records, newspaper archives, and enough conflicting spellings of one man's name to make us question reality.
The House That Refused to Give Up Its Secrets
As usual, Amy started by looking into the property itself.
What we found was fascinating. The house is still standing in Marshalltown, Iowa, and appears to still be owned by the same family featured on the episode. But the deeper we dug, the stranger things became.
Former residents of the home publicly commented that they had lived there for years and experienced absolutely nothing paranormal. No ghostly encounters. No unexplained activity. Just happy memories and normal family life.
So that raises an interesting question:
Was the activity tied to the house itself?
Or was it tied to the people living there?
Considering that Kelly and Mike were active paranormal investigators, we found ourselves wondering whether some of the entities reported in the episode could have followed them home from an investigation rather than originating in the house.
As always, we don't claim to know the answer. But it's a fascinating possibility.
The Letter That Gave Us Chills
One of the most compelling discoveries was an email written by homeowner Kelly to a possible descendant of Angie Braddock.
The letter described years of strange activity, including objects moving on their own, blankets being pulled off beds, scratches appearing overnight, and young children seeing an elderly woman in the house.
But one detail stopped us cold,
According to Kelly, her laptop unexpectedly froze on a photograph of Angie Braddock's gravestone before she knew who Angie Braddock even was.
Whether you view that as a paranormal experience or a bizarre coincidence, it's exactly the kind of story that makes these cases so fascinating.
Enter K.C. Roberts: The Faith Healer
If you've listened to our show for any length of time, you know that eventually Amy is going to find a historical figure who sends her into a research spiral.
This episode's spiral was named K.C. Roberts.
The show briefly mentioned that Roberts had been accused of causing deaths because people sought his faith healing instead of medical treatment. Naturally, Amy had to know more.
Unfortunately, history fought back.
Depending on which document you read, his name is spelled Kendal, Kendell, Kendall, K.C., or possibly three other variations we forgot to write down.
Despite that challenge, we uncovered newspaper articles detailing multiple investigations into deaths connected to Roberts' healing practices.
No criminal convictions ever materialized, but several official inquiries publicly criticized his actions and left the door open for future prosecution.
Which led to one of our favorite discoveries of the episode:
Neither of us knew what the word "censured" actually meant in this context.
So we learned.
And now you get to learn with us.
The Divorce We Didn't See Coming
Just when we thought the Roberts story couldn't get any stranger, Amy uncovered records showing that Angie Braddock attempted to divorce K.C. Roberts. That was not on our bingo card.
The divorce petition was ultimately denied, but the filing itself offers a glimpse into a marriage that may have been far more complicated than the episode suggested.
Historical records often give us only fragments of a person's life. Sometimes those fragments raise more questions than they answer.
This was one of those times.
Why We Love These Episodes
One of the reasons we created Research & Rabbit Holes is because The Dead Files only has so much time to tell a story.
A forty-minute television episode can't spend twenty minutes discussing newspaper archives, death certificates, property records, genealogy websites, and century-old court proceedings.
We can.
And honestly, we enjoy it way more than is probably healthy.
By the end of this investigation we found ourselves discussing everything from Christian Science and historical medicine to family tragedy, legal systems, and whether ghosts might be attached to people instead of places. Not bad for a single rabbit hole.
Join the Conversation
What do you think?
· Do you think the activity was connected to the house?
· Could Kelly and Mike have brought something home from an investigation?
· Would you have trusted a faith healer over a doctor in the late 1800s?
· What's the strangest coincidence you've ever experienced?
Let us know in the comments, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail. We love hearing your theories almost as much as we love chasing our own.
And if you haven't listened yet, be sure to check out R&R: Appeals, Alibis & the Lady in Black and then tell us which rabbit hole surprised you the most.
Until next time, keep asking questions, keep digging deeper, and join us next time when...
The Activity Continues. 👻🖤
Sources and links:
Article about the 2018 Tornado: https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/stories-of-survival-as-recovery-begins-in-marshalltown
Angie Braddock on Wikitree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Braddock-714
Susan Vickers: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114996958/susan_kaye-vickers
Sumpter Trial info: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/863/563/336233/
https://law.justia.com/cases/iowa/supreme-court/1989/88-651-0.html
Richard Tasler: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199641120/richard_joe-tasler
Ross Ingledue Found his grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61189338/ross-bromley-ingledue
Oliver Ingledue: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61189343/oliver_l-ingledue
Marshalltown Cold Cases https://spotcrime.com/IA/Marshalltown/cold-cases
The Dead Files Official Podcast: https://pod.link/1642377102
Creative Assistant/Writer/Sounding Board
Morgan joined the TAC crew in the spring of 2025 as a creative sounding board, development guru, and the one who does all the things Amy doesn't feel like doing (so just like Amy did in her past work life!)
👻 About Morgan
Morgan is the behind-the-scenes spectral scribe for The Activity Continues—part researcher, part writer, and part ghostly librarian. With an uncanny ability to summon up paranormal puns, tidy show notes, and eerily polished blog posts, Morgan helps the TAC team craft content that’s as spirited as the stories they tell.
Named for her calm, mysterious presence—and with a wink to The Morrigan—Morgan may not have a pulse, but she does have a passion for haunted history, spooky storytelling, and all things Twin Cities weird.
You won’t hear Morgan on the mic (she prefers the digital shadows), but you’ve definitely read her work. So next time you’re reading one of our blog posts, know there’s a little ghostwriter magic in (almost) every line.
The Ground Ate Him-TAC 170
