In 1931 Liverpool, we witness a crime that seems physically "impossible": Julia Wallace is brutally murdered inside her locked home, with no sign of forced entry and no clear way for the killer to escape. What begins with a mysterious phone call to a chess club and a nonexistent address spirals into one of history’s most famous real-life locked room mysteries.

In part one, we meet William Herbert Wallace and his wife Julia, and follow the strange chain of events that lead up to her murder. In part two we will discuss the investigation and trial that follows, all the while asking ourselves: "Did William kill his wife?"

Today's research couldn't have been possible without my friend and talented Records Custodian, Sarah Schilling. Special thanks to her!

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Sources:

Liverpool City Police, “The Murder of Julia Wallace,” official case summary.

Court of Criminal Appeal, R v Wallace [1931], judgment quashing conviction.

Trial testimony of William Herbert Wallace and key witnesses, Liverpool Assizes, April 1931.

Curtis, J. H., The Trial of William Herbert Wallace. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1934.

Murphy, James, The Murder of Julia Wallace. 2001.

Nickell, Joe, “The Impossible Murder of Julia Wallace,” Skeptical Inquirer 45, no. 5 (2021).

“William Herbert Wallace,” Wikipedia.

“The Julia Wallace Murder,” Historic Mysteries.

William Herbert Wallace case files, williamherbertwallace.com.

One morning in August 1994, a small town in Washington watched as translucent, gelatin-like blobs of goo fell from the sky, making people violently ill, and sparking a mystery that recently resurfaced 30 years later. From medieval “star jelly” to real cases of fish raining from the sky around the world, this episode explores bizarre happenings in nature.

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@MysteryForTwo

Sources:

The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd, Season 2, Episode 1

“The Day Blobs Rained Down on Oakville,” The Chronicle

“Return of the Blobs: SW Washington Revisited by Decades-Old Gooey Mystery,” KUOW

“Can You Solve the Mystery of the Oakville Blobs?” KUOW

Gordon, Benjamin Lee. Medieval and Renaissance Medicine (1959)

Belcher, Hilary & Swale, Erica. “Catch a Falling Star,” Folklore (1984)

“Star Jelly,” Wikipedia (with historical medical references)

“Lluvia de Peces: The Rain of Fish,” Atlas Obscura

“Animal Rain: A Real Phenomenon?” Sinapsi e Diaria

“Why Does It Rain Fish in Honduras?” CaterPickles

During a midnight shoot for Titanic in Halifax, nearly 80 cast and crew members, including director James Cameron, suddenly began hallucinating after eating bowls of lobster chowder. This mystery begs the question: who spiked the chowder?

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Sources:

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix/31135045/
• https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/31137984/
• https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-pcp-laced-chowder-mystery-what-happened-2024-4
• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/titanic-pcp-chowder
• https://globalnews.ca/news/10462345/titanic-movie-set-pcp-chowder-halifax-details/
• https://www.vulture.com/2022/12/25-years-later-no-one-knows-who-spiked-the-titanic-chowder.html
• https://mysticsciences.com/ghost-stories/ghosts-of-the-titanic-haunting-tales-that-endure-time/

A man is found unconscious behind a Burger King dumpster with no name, no past, and no record of ever existing, launching one of the strangest identity mysteries the FBI had ever seen. This episode unravels the decades-long search to uncover who “Burger King Doe” really was, and how the mystery was finally solved.

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instagram.com/mysteryfortwopodcast

Sources:

• https://isogg.org/wiki/Benjaman_Kyle
• https://newrepublic.com/article/138068/last-unknown-man
• https://abcnews.go.com/Health/man-amnesia-finds-family-searching-11-years/story?id=33864237
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2079505/
• https://www.transylvaniatimes.com/front_page/benjaman-kyle-asks-who-am-i/article_49997a20-73bd-5c7a-86c9-e12784dc462b.html
• https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-amnesia-20151004-story.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nwpvh7E0Mc

Two boys born in the same Ohio hospital on the same day in 1939 grow up unaware of each other’s existence, but they somehow spend their lives making eerily similar choices, from the names of their wives and children to the cars they drive and the jobs they work. Decades later, a single phone call brings them together, revealing even more coincidences. Jack and Katy explore this curious case in today's episode.

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& watch us on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@MysteryForTwoPodcast

Sources:

• Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart — Communicating Psychological Science: https://www.communicatingpsychologicalscience.com/blog/minnesota-study-of-twins-reared-apart

• Carey, Benedict — “Twins Reared Apart: A Living Lab,” The New York Times (1979): https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/09/archives/twins-reared-apart-a-living-lab.html

• Other Twin Research at UMN — Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research: https://mctfr.psych.umn.edu/other-twin-research/other-twin-research-umn

• NPR Transcript — Program No. 1230111399: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1230111399

• Top Baby Names of 1939 — BabyCenter: https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/most-popular/top-baby-names-1939

• YouTube — Minnesota Twin Study video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfDW75VhHc

On a seemingly ordinary day in Jackson, Tennessee, a construction crew uncovers hundreds of rare gold coins, sparking questions about their origin. Were they a forgotten Civil War stash, or connected to a 19th-century bank robbery and murder?

Then, let's travel to California, where a couple walking their dog discovers the largest gold coin hoard in U.S. history - over 1,400 coins worth millions.

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https://www.instagram.com/mysteryfortwopodcast/

Sources:

Jackson Sun, September 15, 2013. Newspapers.com

The New York Times archive. Newspapers.com

RareGoldCoins Blog: “The Ten Rarest Liberty Head Quarter Eagles.” raregoldcoins.com

Aud, Thomas L. Gold is the Key: Murder, Robbery, and the Gold Rush in Jackson, Tennessee. BrayBree Books

RareGoldCoins Blog: Market Blog. raregoldcoins.com

San Diego Union, April 17, 1861. CDNC

PCGS News: Tennessee Treasure Mystery. pcgs.com

NGC Coin News: Gold Dollars. ngccoin.com

SFGate: California couple discovers $10M in gold. sfgate.com

RareGoldCoins Blog: “Five Quick Observations: Dahlonega Quarter Eagles.” raregoldcoins.com

TNGenWeb: Madison County Records. tngenweb.org

PNC Legacy Project: Bank Artifacts. pnc.com

Downtown Jackson TN History Trail. downtownjacksontn.com

USA Today: Surprise windfall cash and gold coins. usatoday.com

Littleton Coin Co.: 1890-CC Gold $5 Liberty Head. littletoncoin.com

FoundSF: The Old U.S. Mint at 5th and Mission. foundsf.org

Stock photos courtesy of Unsplash

Balloons can be mysterious! Jack and Katy take listeners on a double-decker journey through two balloon-related tales. First they revisit Cleveland’s 1986 Balloonfest, a Guinness World Record attempt that went spectacularly wrong, and may (or may not) have contributed to two unfortunate deaths. Then, they jump to 2009 in Colorado, where a homemade silver balloon and a six-year-old boy named Falcon sparked a national media frenzy, only to reveal a shocking twist.

Follow Mystery For Two Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mysteryfortwopodcast/

Sources:

Time.com – https://time.com/7302213/trainwreck-balloon-boy-netflix/

Fox8.com – https://fox8.com/news/balloonfest-86-35-years-since-downtown-cleveland-event-turned-disastrous/

NPR.org – https://www.npr.org/2009/11/13/120399278/balloon-boy-parents-plead-guilty

SmithsonianMag.com – https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/

MentalFloss.com – https://www.mentalfloss.com/cleveland-balloonfest?

YouTube.com – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx-HRMgwrOI

KOAT.com – https://www.koat.com/article/a-decade-ago-the-balloon-boy-hoax-captured-the-nation/29475231

People.com – https://people.com/trainwreck-balloon-boy-true-story-11772282

Time.com – https://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/10/balloon-boys-father-attempts-to-prove-theres-life-on-mars/

NYTimes.com – https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/us/19balloon.html

All stories are researched and shared following careful research and sincere effort. Though we are not professionals, we welcome corrections and strive to promptly correct any errors as new information comes to light.

In the very first episode of Mystery For Two, Jack and Katy unpack a 1964 jewel heist at the American Museum of Natural History, and the mysterious 16 carat uncut diamond sold for just $1.

J & K discuss the thieves’ unlikely break-in, the investigation, the bizarre recovery operation involving snorkels and a red Cadillac, and the very unfortunate murder that occurred later in connection to one of the thieves.

Follow Mystery For Two Podcast on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mysteryfortwopodcast/

Research sources:

NYTimes.com – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/nyregion/natural-history-museum-jewelry-heist.html

WisconsinHistory.org – https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2503

MSU.edu (Project GEO) – https://project.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/kimberlites.html

VanityFair.com – https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/01/murf-the-surf-docuseries-jack-murphy

NYTimes.com – https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/21/us/murph-the-surf-ends-prison-term.html

WallStreetJournal.com – https://www.wsj.com/articles/murf-the-surf-jewels-jesus-and-mayhem-in-the-usa-review-a-dashing-thiefs-darker-side-11675368747

NYTimes TimesMachine – https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/12/12/95007027.html?pageNumber=81

Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/464307937/

Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/534341997/?match=1&terms=terry%20rae%20frank

Village of Eagle, WI – https://www.vi.eagle.wi.gov/

MacFound.org – https://www.macfound.org/press/40-years-40-stories/accessible-billionaires-legacy

Amazon.com (Real Gems Store) – https://www.amazon.com/stores/REAL-GEMS/page/DFDB896E-F8D5-48D6-B61A-62B929357446?lp_asin=B07PZ5YVS1

StuffNobodyCaresAbout.com – https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2016/10/19/color-views-manhattans-skyline-1960s/

CNN.com – https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/europe/louvre-password-cctv-security-intl

AMNH Digital Collections – https://digitalcollections.amnh.org/archive/The-DeLong-Star-Ruby--100-3-carats--Burma--Myanmar--2URM1THISUT9.html

AMNH Digital Collections – https://digitalcollections.amnh.org/archive/Midnight-Star-sapphire--116-75-carats--Sri-Lanka-2URM1THII117.html

DigitalCommonwealth.org – http://digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:x346f361z

Langerman-Diamonds.com – https://www.langerman-diamonds.com/products/5747-yellow-diamond-rough-1_02-ct-rough

Wikipedia.org – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Gabor

All stories are researched and shared following careful research and sincere effort. Though we are not professionals, we welcome corrections and strive to promptly correct any errors as new information comes to light.