On a chilly, winter day in December of 1933 a young girl arrived in the small town of Willoughby. Within only a few hours she was found dead next to the railroad tracks.
After reading all I could find about this mystery, I concluded that she must have gotten mixed up in the directions she got from the boarding house she was staying at, trying to get to the train station for the train she had the ticket for, became lost at the end of a road far south and west of the train station.
Desperately wanting to get home to her parent's farm in Pensylvania for Christmas, she then heard the train coming, panicked, had what can be called a mental crisis, made her way through a short woods to the tracks at that point, dropped her suitcase at the woods line, ran and tried to hurl herself onto the train.
I settled on this theory based on the recent similar case of Kyler Efinger, a 30 year old man who when faced with prospect of being delayed and missing his flight to his grandfather's funeral, shed his shoes, ran out through emergency doors onto the tarmac and climbed into a still spinning jet engine of the plane he was supposed to be on.
This could be all wrong of course, but it's the best theory I can come up with as to why she did this.
After studying this mystery for years and being in receipt of the mortuary photo and police report myself, I am appalled anyone would publish her postmortem photograph.
One wonders if this sad tale may have been an (the?) inspiration for Rod Serling's famous Twilight Zone episode “A Stop at Willoughby”.
RIP Sophie. May you have attained the peace you never found in life.
One wonders if this sad tale may have been an (the?) inspiration for Rod Serling's famous Twilight Zone episode “A Stop at Willoughby”.
RIP Sophie. May you have attained the peace you never found in life.
One wonders if this sad tale may have been an (the?) inspiration for Rod Serling's famous Twilight Zone episode “A Stop at Willoughby”.
RIP Sophie. May you have attained the peace you never found in life.
After reading all I could find about this mystery, I concluded that she must have gotten mixed up in the directions she got from the boarding house she was staying at, trying to get to the train station for the train she had the ticket for, became lost at the end of a road far south and west of the train station.
Desperately wanting to get home to her parent's farm in Pensylvania for Christmas, she then heard the train coming, panicked, had what can be called a mental crisis, made her way through a short woods to the tracks at that point, dropped her suitcase at the woods line, ran and tried to hurl herself onto the train.
I settled on this theory based on the recent similar case of Kyler Efinger, a 30 year old man who when faced with prospect of being delayed and missing his flight to his grandfather's funeral, shed his shoes, ran out through emergency doors onto the tarmac and climbed into a still spinning jet engine of the plane he was supposed to be on.
This could be all wrong of course, but it's the best theory I can come up with as to why she did this.
After studying this mystery for years and being in receipt of the mortuary photo and police report myself, I am appalled anyone would publish her postmortem photograph.