Victorian True Crime Extras Sneak Peek!

Summary

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My Victorian Nightmare – Summary

Episode: Victorian True Crime Extras Sneak Peek!
Host: Genevieve Manion
Date: April 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this exclusive “True Crime Extras” sneak peek, host Genevieve Manion transports listeners into the eerie world of early-19th-century Vermont to unpack “the murder” of Russell Colvin—a bizarre case of disappearance, dreams, spectral accusations, and one of the strangest exonerations in Victorian true crime. This episode, a sample from the podcast’s Patreon, revels in ghostly visitations, small-town suspicion, and the follies of circumstantial justice, all told in Genevieve’s spooky, entertaining style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Disappearance and Suspicions

• Russell Colvin gone missing (Manchester, Vermont, 1812)
  • “In 1812 in Manchester, Vermont, a man named Russell Colvin went mysteriously missing. And immediately two gentlemen were suspected of foul play. His brothers in law, Jesse and Stephen Bourne.” (02:11)
• The Bourne brothers disliked Colvin openly:
  • “They had openly talked often about how much [they] hated the guy to everyone who would listen.” (02:26)
  • Colvin was thought of as “a drunk, a no good freeloader.” (02:41)
• A neighbor witnessed a fight the day Colvin disappeared but did not raise alarm (03:03).

2. The Ghostly Revelation

• Years of Silence:
  • No body, no proof. Local rumor blames the Bourne brothers (03:03).
• Uncle’s Prophetic Dreams:
  • Seven years after the disappearance, Colvin’s uncle claims the ghost of Russell Colvin appeared in recurring dreams, revealing where his remains lay: “He said that his remains had been put into an old cellar hole in a potato field on the farm.” (03:29)
• Family excavates the cellar—discovers only personal knick-knacks (03:39).

3. Family Intrigue & Escalating Accusations

• Colvin's wife gives birth ten months after his vanishing, suggesting infidelity and a motive to declare him dead (04:09).
• A suspicious barn fire and the family dog ("Detective Pickles") unearth “human” bones near a stump (05:05–05:12).
  • “Three area physicians pronounced that they were human.” (05:12)

4. The Town’s Narrative

• Town speculation: Brothers killed Colvin, hid and relocated the body several times, even burned the barn to hide evidence (05:27–05:59).
  • “They thought maybe the place where they buried him in the barn was too obvious…so they dug him up again, burned the entire barn down…” (05:41–05:53)

5. The Jailhouse Snitch & Wild Confessions

• The Confession Deal:
  • Jesse Bourne, arrested, is talked up by cellmate Silas Merrill, who snitches for clemency. He claims Jesse confessed: “He said that his brother Steven clubbed Russell over the head during an argument and Jesse used a penknife to cut his throat ear to ear.” (06:40)
• Chain Reactions:
  • Steven turns himself in, claims innocence, then confesses (like Jesse) but claims self-defense—all confessions later recanted (07:50–08:13).

6. Forensics Fail & The “Human” Bones

• Twist:
  • The suspicious bones were not human, despite three doctors’ initial “confident” testimony (09:17–09:33).
    Great quote: “When the doctors who originally made the statements that it was human were shown the bones again, all of them said, yeah, you’re right, there’s no way that’s a human bone. Now that I come to think of it, don’t listen to me. I just love making declarative statements. They feel so good to make.” (09:33)

7. Flimsy Evidence and a Frantic Trial

• Case built on:
  • Gossip, dreams, jailhouse snitch testimony, (falsely) identified bones, and hearsay about long-ago threats (10:48–11:23).
• Jury convicts both Bourne brothers—death sentences issued (11:23).
• Jesse’s sentenced commuted to life; Stephen is to be hanged (11:51).

8. The Final Twist: Russell Colvin Returns

• Incredible Revelation:
  • Weeks before Stephen's execution, a New York hotel guest recognizes the story in a newspaper—he knows a Russell Colvin who fits the description (12:18–13:00).
  • A friend schemes to lure Colvin back to Vermont; press, neighbors, and exoneration await (13:06–14:25).
• Outcome:
  • “Straight away, the Bourne brothers were exonerated.” (14:21)
  • Colvin had simply left after an argument, found work elsewhere, and avoided contact for years (14:32–14:44).
  • Ironic, sitcom-style ending: “We won't say we’re happy to see ya, but boy, are we happy to see ya. Freeze frame.” (14:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Ghostly revelations, prophetic dreams, jailbird snitches, dogs digging up spooky bones, and a twist you will not see coming.” — Genevieve Manion (00:52)
• “Detective Pickles, the family dog. That's probably not his real name. I just made that up.” — Co-host/Narrator (06:59)
• “All they really had was…a dream that an uncle had about a ghost.” — Genevieve Manion (11:20)
• “Turns out the Bourne brothers were right about this guy all along…he left without any ado, not telling a soul, and found work in New York.” — Manion (14:25–14:38)
• “I just love making declarative statements. They feel so good to make.” — Co-host/Narrator (09:33)

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Segment Timestamps

• Setting up the story / introductory notes: (00:52–02:11)
• Colvin’s disappearance & initial suspicions: (02:11–03:05)
• Ghostly dreams & the search for remains: (03:05–04:05)
• Knack excavations, new baby drama: (04:05–04:26)
• The barn burns, dog finds bones: (04:56–05:21)
• Speculation on moving the body: (05:27–05:59)
• Arrest and jailhouse informant: (06:01–07:05)
• Confessions, recantations, and mental impairment: (07:05–10:12)
• Medical forensics debunked: (09:09–10:03)
• Trial, conviction, and sentencing: (10:48–11:59)
• Last minute miracle, Colvin alive: (12:01–14:25)
• Conclusion / "sitcom ending": (14:51–15:05)

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Tone and Takeaway

With a mix of dry wit, fascination for Victorian morbidity, and skepticism about historical justice, Genevieve Manion skillfully unpacks a convoluted case of mistaken death—complete with ghostly dreams, unreliable confessions, and farcical forensic errors. The episode encapsulates the period’s blend of superstition, gossip, and nascent criminal procedure, serving as both a cautionary tale and an entertaining romp through history’s quirks.

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Ideal for fans of Victorian weirdness, courtroom drama, and the genuinely bizarre. For more, check out “My Victorian Nightmare” on Patreon as teased by Genevieve!

Transcript

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[Podcast Host]

What they did to your family. You're lucky to make it out alive.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Streaming on Peacock.

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These men are going to come after me. Taking them out.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, it's my only chance.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Put a bullet in her head. From the co creator of Ozark. Looks like a family was running drugs Execution style killing. It's rare for the keys.

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Any leads on who they might have been running for?

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The cartel killed my family. I'm gonna kill them.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

All of them. Mia Streaming now only on Peacock.

[Podcast Host]

Hello friends. This is a sneak peek of the Victorian true crime extras that you will find on the Patreon. I post new episodes every Sunday, so if you would like to give the Patre Patreon free trial a try, you can also listen to the other ones that I've posted so far. And if you end up joining the Patreon, Even just the $5 tier until May 25, Toby, my sweet Pomeranian is going to be sending you a little token of our appreciation in the mail. So for more info on how to subscribe, just click the Patreon link in the show notes. Now brace yourself for one of the most wild Victorian true crime stories you have never heard. Hello friends. For today's extra, I will have ghostly revelations, prophetic dreams, jailbird snitches, dogs digging up spooky bones, and a twist that you will not see coming. This is the murder of Russell Colvin in 1812. And usually I like to start with an article about the situation, but I

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

do not want to give anything away.

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So we're just gonna dig right into the details.

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Okay? Like I said, this story is wild and has the twistiest of twist endings. Get ready for this.

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In 1812 in Manchester, Vermont, a man named Russell Colvin went mysteriously missing. And immediately two gentlemen were suspected of foul play. His brothers in law, Jesse and Stephen Bourne.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

They had openly talked often about how much hated the guy to everyone who would listen.

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Friends, family, neighbors, including their sister, who

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

the man was married to. They didn't hold back. They said he was a drunk, a no good freeloader who would walk out

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on their sister if it wasn't for her family's money. And it wasn't that the family was rich. They just owned a farm that did fairly well in those parts. One day the men were seen fighting on the farm grounds by a neighbor. But the neighbor didn't think anything of it. They were always fighting. Until the town got word that Russell Colvin had not been seen seen since that day.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Rumors that these guys must have killed

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him began to mumble around town. But there was no body. Nothing anyone could prove. It wasn't until seven years later that a family member and uncle claimed that the dead spirit of Russell Colvin had been appearing to him by his bedside in reoccurring dreams. The ghost didn't tell him who killed him, but he did say where his body had been buried. He said that his remains had been put into an old cellar hole in a potato field on the farm.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

And Dagg Gummet, he sure wanted his remains found.

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So this man and a few other family members did just that. They searched and found a hole in the cellar. They excavated it and found not a body, but some knickknacks, broken crockery, a button, a penknife and a jackknife. Russell Colvin's wife was also there for the digging. And she said that those knickknacks and trinkets absolutely belonged to Russell. So he must be dead around here somewhere.

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Now again, this was seven years later

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and ten months after Russell Colvin went missing. She had a baby.

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Now if one does the math, that means the baby could not have belonged

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to her missing husband.

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In fact, she said outright that it wasn't. But her husband was probably dead, so

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she wasn't really married anymore.

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And all this was because she wanted alimony from the guy who fathered that child. It was her best interest that her husband was dead. But she said, by gum, that man

[Podcast Host]

has gotta be dead around here somewhere. Not long after the knick knack excavation, something rather suspicious occurred. The barn just adjacent to the potato field burned down. Giving rise to even more rumors that something fishy was probably going on over at the Bourne farm.

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And then a few days after this,

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another rather suspicious event occurred. The good old family dog was scratching round the property.

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And over by a stump that was just yonder from the barn that burned down, he dug up a bunch a bones.

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Three area physicians pronounced that they were human. Local rumors began to solidify into a plausible sequence of events.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Again with no evidence of any of this. But this was the sequence of events that everyone agreed upon.

[Podcast Host]

The brothers killed him. They buried him in the cellar hole. But maybe they heard Uncle Bourne talking about his reoccurring dreams. So they dec decided to dig him up and rebury him elsewhere on the property, likely in the barn.

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But when they searched the hole and found all the trinkets and his wife

[Podcast Host]

was like, he's dead around here somewhere. Maybe the place where they buried him in the barn was too obvious. So they dug him up again, burned

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

the entire barn down for good measure, and moved him one more time to

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the stump, thinking they did a solid

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job of burying him this time, not

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realizing that the family pooch was a bone sniffing professional. All this speculation finally resulted in the arrest of Jesse and a warrant for the arrest of Steven, who had moved to New York. While in jail, Jesse shared a cell with a forger, a man named Silas Merrill. Not long after Jesse moved into the cell, Silas asked to bend the ear

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

of one of the guards.

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He said, this guy Jesse is telling me some pretty juicy information that the prosecution might be interested to hear. This guy told authorities that Jesse conf everything.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

He said that his brother Steven clubbed

[Podcast Host]

Russell over the head during an argument and Jesse used a penknife to cut his throat ear to ear.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Then the events played out, just as

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the public surmised that they had to move his body numerous times in an attempt to prevent his bones from being found. Until they met their match. Detective Pickles, the family dog.

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

That's probably not his real name. I just made that up. The reason this Mr. Silas Merrill was

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so enthusiastic to snitch on his cell was that he said he'd only give this information if he was released. He'd trade his confession for clemency. He agreed to testify at their trial against both brothers. They accepted the deal and off he went. Now both men were facing likely death sentences, and to save his own skin, Jesse confessed and said that his brother did it. Now, his brother actually hadn't been caught yet, and he likely believed that he got wind that a warrant was out for him and hopefully hightailed somewhere. But interestingly enough, Steven found out that there was a warrant out for him and he voluntarily turned himself in. He adamantly denied killing anyone and said

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that they had no proof, which they didn't. He was unaware that his brother had made that confession and unaware that another guy was queued up to testify against them both. So, oops. Once Steven showed up, his brother recanted

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his confession, saying that he only did it in hopes of saving his life. And his brother didn't do anything. And neither did he. They were both innocent.

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Authorities paid no mind to the recantation

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and numerous witnesses began to appear. Neighbors who claimed to hear the Brothers

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

talk about how much they very much wanted to kill Russell.

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All the smack talking.

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Some even said that they heard the

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brothers say that they already knew he was dead.

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Mind you, this was seven years later

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that all these folks had very clear recollections of statements made while down the local bar, over the fence, etc. Steven was getting quickly nervous, so he decided to try the same thing that

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his brother did, to no avail, and

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confess, but insisted that he acted in self defense.

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A statement that if believed by the

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jury, would mitigate against the death penalty.

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Things were looking real bad for the

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Bourne brothers until a number of strange details came to light. The largest of the bones found by

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Detective Inspector Pickles had been sent again to three physicians in the area who

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all confirmed that it was human.

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Only it wasn't.

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The bones were compared to numerous other

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human bones by the Quartz physician who show that it was so obviously dissimilar

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to any human bone that they could

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only make the conclusion that it belonged

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to either a sheep or smaller animal.

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When the doctors who originally made the statements that it was human were shown the bones again, all of them said, yeah, you're right, there's no way that that's a human bone. Now that I come to think of it, don't listen to me. I'm one of those people that has very strong opinions. I think I know everything and I will tell you exactly why I think it with as much confidence as a beta fish. But as soon as someone drops like one fact that contradicts me, I'm like, yeah, don't listen to me. I just love making declarative statements. They feel so good to make.

[Podcast Host]

I have a feeling these guys were

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likely of the same ilk. Only no one is up for the death penalty because of my declarative statements that I know of, for the love of God.

[Podcast Host]

Also, with all of these confessions being

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thrown around, all contradicting, being recanted, there

[Podcast Host]

was no proof for anything that had been said. Also, Steven had a considerable mental impairment. He was considered to have a very low iq. And his quote unquote confession that everything was self defense was obviously written by his lawyers in language that he did not speak. In his own defense lawyers thought he

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

was guilty and told him, the best thing that you can do is hope

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for a life sentence here.

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So we'll write up this confession for you and that'll be that.

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Not to mention, the most glaring issue was that things would not have gotten this far without the aid of the jailhouse snitch who had access to newspapers And a story about the brothers and the suspicions of neighbors had already been published by the time he bent the guard's ear and made that deal with the prosecution. All they really had was an eyewitness

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

that said that they saw the men

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arguing earlier in the day before Russell Colvin disappeared. They had no body, no murder weapon.

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Just a dream that an uncle had about a ghost.

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Despite all of this, the jury found them guilty. They believed there was enough circumstantial evidence to not only prove them guilty, but for the judge to issue them both death sentences. However, the Vermont General assembly convened a special session to consider Jesse less culpable.

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On what grounds other than his own first recanta confession and the confession of jailbird Silas Merrill. Incredibly, this was enough to have his

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sentence committ commuted to life in prison. But his brother was still sentenced to hang on January 28, 1820.

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But get this.

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Less than a month before the execution was to take place, an article about the spooky nature of a ghost having helped catch his own killers that was

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written up in the New York Evening

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Post was being read aloud in the

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lobby of a New York hotel where

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a man traveling from New Jersey was listening in. A man named Tabor Chadwick. He listened in and was like, did they just say the ghost of Russell Colvin? Did they just say this happened in Vermont on a farm?

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Bunny, I know a guy named Russell Colvin who moved here seven years ago from Vermont, who said he used to work on a farm out there. What are the odds? I could just sit here and enjoy my coffee, but, you know, I'm just gonna reach out and thank God he did. He sent two letters.

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Not to this Russell Colvin. He didn't know his exact address. He was only an acquaintance. But to two newspapers and told them

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that there is a guy that might be this missing man. And you might want to follow up on that.

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One newspaper ignored the letter entirely, but the Post decided to publish the letter just a few weeks before the execution. That article found the eyeballs of a man named James Whelpl, who knew a Russell Colvin. Well, he showed him the article, and

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

Colvin was like, yeah, that's probably me, but I hated those guys. I'm not going anywhere. Seriously, this guy, this friend didn't call the police. He paid two beautiful young women to entice Russell back to Vermont. They'd all go together, including his friend. Exactly how all of this unfolded is a mystery. But they enticed him onto the train. And as soon as they got to Vermont and the ladies peaced out.

[Podcast Host]

Even better, Whelpley sent ahead letters to ensure that the press was there when they arrived. Some people were even former neighbors, and as soon as they stepped off the

[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

train, the ladies later dazed and jaws dropped. What a good guy, that James Whelpley. This isn't mentioned anywhere, but I'm sure he was likely paid by the paper for the scoop and that dramatic reveal, but but good on him for executing it regardless, even if he was paid

[Podcast Host]

to do it straight away, the Bourne brothers were exonerated.

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Turns out the Bourne brothers were right about this guy all along. When he got into the fight with them, he decided he just didn't want

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to bother with the family anymore. He didn't really care too much about his wife and she had been having an affair.

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So he left without any ado, not telling a soul, and found work in New York.

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His wife lost her child support from

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that other guy and it isn't exactly

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clear, but I think he ended up

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staying in Vermont and moved back in with his wife. And I can't help but think of this as like a kooky 90s sitcom ending. We won't say we're happy to see ya, but boy, are we happy to see ya. Freeze frame.

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[Podcast Co-host/Narrator]

I never saw that coming.

[Podcast Host]

And that was the mistaken murder of Russell Colvin.