Away in a Hangar: A Christmas Special

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 It's been a little while since our last episode when we said that we would be producing an episode

spk_0 on fame, Cooper, a girl who disappeared in Fairmont, West Virginia, and turned up dead about four

spk_0 months later when her body was discovered by hunters. We have a lot of documentation about this case,

spk_0 including information that has never been public, and a law enforcement officer who had worked on

spk_0 the case at the time said he was open to an interview. Unfortunately, since then, our communication

spk_0 with that individual has gone completely silent, despite our varied attempts. Our call for other

spk_0 interviewees using our Facebook reach has not yielded any results, so for now the fame Cooper

spk_0 episode has been put on hold. If you or anyone you know was close to fame, investigated the case,

spk_0 or was otherwise involved, do reach out to us at Mysteria Suggestions at gmail.com. That's mystery

spk_0 with an IA at the end, like the show name, Suggestions at gmail.com. But today, we break all of our own

spk_0 rules. There's no interviewees. There's not even a mystery, and we're also going to be a little

spk_0 more lighthearted than usual. So without any further ado, please enjoy a way and a hanger, a Christmas special.

spk_0 Our story begins four days before Christmas, 1983, at the top of the tallest skyscraper in Pittsburgh.

spk_0 The US Steel Tower is 64 stories tall, and until 2001, the top floor was occupied by the top

spk_0 of the Triangle restaurant. A fine dining establishment that, for obvious reasons,

spk_0 gave diners a sprawling view of the city no matter where they were seated. On this particular

spk_0 evening, a stockbroker named Bob Hay is at the top of the triangle, busily getting drunk.

spk_0 He was working for AG Edwards and Sons, and they were having a Christmas party.

spk_0 That's when our next two characters show up a non-practicing physician from Wainsburg,

spk_0 named Dr. Grover Philippi and his handyman. Philippi had rented a santa suit, and he had rented a

spk_0 show first suit for Michael Conclan, which is his 23-year-old handyman. And they also

spk_0 rented a van for this. They don't describe the van, I'm guessing it's windowless.

spk_0 So they drive to the party and they crash it, and they're socializing with the AG Edwards

spk_0 employees. And it went so far as to where Philippi was actually handing out flowers to the female

spk_0 employees so that they wouldn't kick him out. And actually some of the employees thought that he

spk_0 was their employer, and they're like, hey, thank you so much for this job. It's been great. And he's

spk_0 like, all right. So he waited until Hay was drunk. Hay had about five man-hattenes that night,

spk_0 and he was a little pliable. At one point, Hay actually asks the chauffeur if he wanted to have a drink.

spk_0 I don't know if he was hitting on him or what, but quote, he told me he was santa's chauffeur and

spk_0 didn't care for a drink. Oh, very interesting. So I guess Hay had a drink in a hand or something.

spk_0 I think he might have been hitting on that dude, but who knows? Well, so Hay's drunk and Philippi

spk_0 and Conklin are trying to get him out of the party. They got to get him into the elevator.

spk_0 The Pittsburgh police actually helped them bring Hay down the elevator into the parking lot.

spk_0 In case it's not clear at this point, this is all an elaborate abduction by Santa Claus and his chauffeur.

spk_0 And while they were there, actually a friend of Hay's was like, hey, can I catch a ride? And they're like,

spk_0 okay, sure. So they bring him in the van too. And then they left the party about 1230 in the morning.

spk_0 And they get in the van, hey, and his friend are in the back. And they have to take Hay's friend home.

spk_0 He lives in Squirrel Hill. So they got to do that. So Hay doesn't suspect anything.

spk_0 Later in court, Hay would say the last thing he remembered is being at another party in an

spk_0 adjacent suite being held by some doctors and nurses. He did not even remember leaving the building

spk_0 or getting into a vehicle. Hence the police having to help him down the elevator.

spk_0 The next thing he remembered was waking up as he was handcuffed on the floor of a moving vehicle.

spk_0 Still very drunk. He put his hand on the shoulder of Santa, who was driving the rented abduction van

spk_0 and was told to shut up and lie down. At which point he laps back into unconsciousness.

spk_0 And when he woke again, the vehicle was parked inside a large building next to a trailer.

spk_0 Specifically, a trailer very close to Morgan Town's own cheat lake park and less than four

spk_0 miles from Point Marion, Pennsylvania right on the state line. I've seen a photo of this and it's

spk_0 basically a hanger with like an aluminum roof. It's very large. And there's like a construction

spk_0 office trailer on the inside. There's other junk in there like bulldozers and tools and stuff.

spk_0 And while he's in this kidnap torture room, it's got a coffin that has spikes in it

spk_0 and Conclan actually built that himself. I don't think there was any question that this was

spk_0 premeditated when you got to take the time to have a makeshift coffin made. I mean that's an

spk_0 interesting thing to ask your handyman to do for you. Yeah, this handyman is ride or die. I can't

spk_0 get a handyman to fucking show up. I can go right. This guy is like, can you draw that on an

spk_0 outfit? Yeah, I can do that.

spk_0 So the victim had been drugged. They never really said what the drugs were. That wasn't explicitly

spk_0 stated. It was a high potency pain killer which Philippi actually admitted being addicted to at

spk_0 some point. So he's handcuffed to a bed. He's also shackled to a makeshift electric chair with

spk_0 a wire going to his leg. And they were torturing him with a cattle prod to try and extract a confession.

spk_0 And Philippi was pretending to work with the US Treasury Department and said he was investigating

spk_0 stock market fraud. So Conclan is the one who's actually using the cattle prod on him and every time

spk_0 he gets a wrong answer, they shock him. But they were trying to get the name of some of the other

spk_0 brokers. And Philippi kept referring to a doctor who had lost his money, lost his son, and whose

spk_0 wife was incapacitated, which you guessed it is himself. As it turns out, our victim, Bob,

spk_0 hey, had been Dr. Philippi's stockbroker when he got involved in some risky trading in gold and

spk_0 silver markets. He wasn't just buying bullion or even paper shares of gold and silver, which are

spk_0 fairly sound investments. He was trading precious metal futures on margin. For those not

spk_0 familiar with markets, suffice to say that he was making a bet that was hugely magnified by the normal

spk_0 fluctuations of the market, such that if precious metals went up a little, he stood to make a lot

spk_0 of money. But if they went down a little, he stood to lose way more than he had initially invested.

spk_0 Unfortunately, he bought in at one of the worst possible times in US history. Because in 1981,

spk_0 the gold market dropped 50%. Dr. Grover Philippi had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

spk_0 So Philippi believed that hey and another broker had cheated him out of there's different

spk_0 figures and newspapers. But between 500,000 and 750,000 dollars in a bad stock deal.

spk_0 Philippi was trying to get Bob to participate in a scheme to get his hands on the people who could

spk_0 get his money back basically. Hey, was kept in what police called a makeshift torture chamber

spk_0 for 12 days into the New Year 1984. There was a number of times that Philippi threatened his life

spk_0 at one point. He said, how would you like your son's head on the table? He brandished a firearm

spk_0 at least three times and he gave a number of electric shocks. Well, he did in that specially rigged

spk_0 chair with some kind of clamp attached to his toe to ensure the current past his body or something

spk_0 like that. All said and done. I feel like he did extremely well to be in the condition he was

spk_0 found in. I know he was in the hospital for a while. I'm sure he was very dehydrated, but seemed like

spk_0 he had some resilience to him. Yeah, he said that one time three days went by without water.

spk_0 He said later in court that he was given three sandwiches, crackers, cookies, and junk food,

spk_0 a bottle of liquor, and six heavy blankets. And I want to mention the National Weather Service

spk_0 calls 1983 the coldest Christmas ever, which much of the country east of the Rocky Mountains was

spk_0 having blizzards and a record cold during this period of abduction. The high on Christmas day and

spk_0 point Mary and the nearest city was negative four and the low was negative 13. So the six blankets

spk_0 was purely so you don't freeze to death in a West Virginia trailer. I also want to mention that

spk_0 philippi actually gave hay thermal underwear. I don't know if they dressed him in it or had

spk_0 him dress him in it, but I mean when you're shackled that seems kind of awkward, but he did give him

spk_0 sort of like an old West prisoners outfit for this winter weather. I find it interesting you say

spk_0 gave him a bottle liquor because I also found a quote the ingredients to Manhattan cocktails were

spk_0 also provided. You could eat all the maraschino cherries you wanted.

spk_0 The night before the kidnapping philippi called Joseph Lodge who was a bow harbor Florida

spk_0 business consultant and made a rambling hour long call where he told him that this broker had

spk_0 stole 1.5 million from him and that he had earmarked this fund to memorialize his dead son.

spk_0 His son had a disability. He was dyslexic and I don't know if he thought that that played a part

spk_0 in his son's death, but he said that he wanted to establish a trust fund for children with similar

spk_0 problems. Dr. philippi had had a rocky past few decades. He was forced to leave his job at the

spk_0 hospital in Wainsburg in 1975 for undisclosed reasons. Whenever anyone would reach out to his

spk_0 former co-workers, they would say that he didn't want to leave. It wasn't a good circumstance,

spk_0 but they would not talk about what happened, so we're not really sure. That same year,

spk_0 philippi's first wife Virginia filed for divorce and she took their three daughters and their

spk_0 one son to Chicago, Illinois and less than a month later their son who was also named Grover,

spk_0 hanged himself in his bedroom with his belt on January 6, 1976. He was only 13 years old.

spk_0 And philippi never really got over that. He actually requested a private exhumation and an autopsy

spk_0 because he wanted to see if there was any foul play, but that was completely rolled out.

spk_0 A little while later, in 1981, philippi's second wife, Imagine, was hit by a car right

spk_0 outside their house. Now this was the day after Christmas in 1981. She suffered some pretty bad

spk_0 head injuries. And also in 1981, I'm not sure of the month, but philippi got caught with

spk_0 another man's girlfriend and this man poured hot grease all over philippi. He was in court at

spk_0 least 20 times before any of this kidnapping happened. Philippi sued a fellow doctor for libel.

spk_0 This doctor said that philippi was selling narcotic prescriptions to youngsters for $20

spk_0 without giving them examinations and that the cops were aware and they were going to be

spk_0 arresting him. It was settled outside of court in 1982. This is also the same year that he let

spk_0 his medical license lapse and co-workers said that his behavior became erratic.

spk_0 Bro, talk about having serious issues with the holidays. Every single time the holiday rolls

spk_0 around, he's got divorce, a dead child, brain trauma. It's just terrible. By the way, her accident

spk_0 left her largely disabled, which was a big part of what was going on here.

spk_0 Maybe you can answer this because I'm having the little trouble finding out exactly how the police

spk_0 discovered, hey, I know they found an unsigned confession written by Dr. philippi that, hey,

spk_0 never signed, but they found it in philippi's home. Do you know how they followed the steps to

spk_0 find hay? We don't really have any sort of laid out like a detective novel, police procedural.

spk_0 We do know that hay requested that someone please call his wife because remember this is right

spk_0 before the holidays, even though they were divorced, he just vanishes, far as his wife knows.

spk_0 So philippi actually did call her and told her that her husband was, quote,

spk_0 being detained on official business. So my guess is at that point, the police had reason to

spk_0 actually start looking into this. Oh, he left the party in a van. Oh, the van was rented,

spk_0 who rented the van, et cetera, et cetera. But we just don't know.

spk_0 Well, and also philippi had several tracks of land. So as soon as they could tie his name to the

spk_0 van, I'm sure it was just a matter of search this place until we find it. So another thing that I

spk_0 was a little curious about is how the FBI wasn't involved because he's taking this man across

spk_0 state lines. And I guess the FBI were like, we don't need it. And it was, you know, the entire court

spk_0 trial took place in Pennsylvania. In fact, I believe there were some surveys done, like early on,

spk_0 to see if like maybe they could count it all as Pennsylvania. But after he was arrested,

spk_0 his lawyer tried to say that there were mitigating factors in philippi's life that caused this to

spk_0 happen, which included the death of his son, the severe injury of his second wife in that car accident.

spk_0 And he also wanted to make it known that philippi service to society as a physician was valuable.

spk_0 So I guess he thought that all overshadowed having a man for 12 days and completely torturing him.

spk_0 Yeah, the judge said there's no question you faced many tragedies in your life. But as you know,

spk_0 as a physician, most people face tragedies in their lives, there is no excuse for this criminal act.

spk_0 So many people wanted to attend the magistrates hearing before this trial that the judge had to move

spk_0 it into the traffic court building. Well, also philippi was not happy that they were calling the

spk_0 shed a torture chamber. He said because it was heated and had a bed that that that wasn't fair to

spk_0 stay. But also later in testimony, he admitted to giving artificial respiration because he was afraid that

spk_0 he would quote die on us while choking. It's not a torture chamber. Pay no attention to the coffin

spk_0 with nails. Don't, don't worry about that electric chair. They had a couple experts that testified.

spk_0 One of them was Dr. Peter Williams who was a psychiatrist. They were in favor of philippi

spk_0 getting probation because they said that philippi had had some progress in treating severe depression.

spk_0 At some point in order to delay the trial, philippi actually checked himself into a psychiatric hospital.

spk_0 And I believe that this Dr. Williams was testifying about that because he was making progress

spk_0 with his grief and depression. And philippi said that it was all because of his grief and depression

spk_0 and that he requested the chance to continue researching dyslexia, which I guess he felt played a

spk_0 really big part in his son's suicide. Michael Conklin, who was the accomplice, he was the one

spk_0 actually delivering the cattle prod shocks and built the coffin. He received a sentence of two to

spk_0 four years, but he had also agreed to testify against philippi from the very beginning to receive

spk_0 a lighter sentence. Philippi was actually sentenced three to ten years in prison, which he did in the

spk_0 state correctional institution in Pittsburgh. Bob Hay was present in the sentencing and was very

spk_0 unhappy about the decision because he thought that philippi should be getting a longer sentence and

spk_0 he shouldn't have ever gotten bond. But what I found most interesting was that after he was sentenced,

spk_0 philippi requested that his coffin, his electric chair, his brass knuckles, tools, drugs,

spk_0 and cattle prods be returned to him from the police because they were his rightful property and he

spk_0 wanted them back. He said the electric chair was built around a chair that he had in his family for

spk_0 years and it was an heirloom and he wanted it back. I don't know. I mean, he definitely didn't say

spk_0 that about the drugs, the brass knuckles or anything like that, but it's a sweet Christmas.

spk_0 Little torture and Nana's old chair. Oh, and he wanted the thermal underwear that he

spk_0 loaned to hay during his imprisonment and that he actually did get back. Both Philippi and hay are

spk_0 now deceased. In an unrelated case, Conklin, the muscle slash chauffeur, was later arrested and

spk_0 charged with arson after his release from jail on kidnapping. You've been listening to Appalachian

spk_0 Nisteria produced by myself in Sarah James McLaughlin. We've probably got one or two more episodes

spk_0 to share with you in the new year before we set the show aside for good and work on other projects.

spk_0 Remember to stay safe, take care of each other and never, ever trust Santa.

Away in a Hangar: A Christmas Special

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