In 1924, the Indiana town of Goobersville faced a wave of disappearances—more than 72 names in about three months, many last seen near a 200-acre farm. The owner, Billy Wonka, met officers with a smile he never earned and a claim he repeated: “I didn’t do anything.” The legend adds something else: a 500-pound spider named Tony, the smell of damp hay, and skitter marks where floors should be clean.With no arrestable proof, investigators set a sting. An undercover officer walked past the gate. Billy appeared almost immediately, offered a “free shovel,” and led him inside. The hallway was dim, lined with tools and glass. Then: “Sick him!”—and chaos. Officers breached on the screams. What they saw inside, the story goes, was true horror.This Deep Dive keeps to legend vs. record. We test whether the numbers were inflated, whether “Tony” was an exotic-animal rumor, or whether the rooms below the house were the point all along. No gore, no instructions—just the images that won’t leave: a shovel tag with no price, black arcs on dusty floorboards, and a door that never opens from the inside.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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