Welcome to Ghost Hunt, a series of caches that bring you to scenes from the unsolved Hall-Mills double homicide of 1922.
Media interest in the Hall-Mills murders continued after the inconclusive 1922 investigation. In early February, 1923, newspaper photographers were tipped off that Mrs. Frances Hall would be aboard S.S. Mauretania, an ocean liner setting out for Europe. When they searched the ship with the help of the passengers, no sign of her could be found. Mrs. Hall was indeed headed off for Europe, but she was forty blocks to the north on the liner America (pier 55) bound for Genoa and Naples. She and her companion, Sally Peters, had asked that their names be left off the guest list in order to avoid those same reporters. Mrs. Hall would travel on to Venice and spend a significant time in Europe, partly to avoid media attention that followed the murder of her husband.
Coverage of, and interest in, the murders certainly did not end with Mrs.Hall leaving the country. Salacious speculation in the New York Daily Mirror helped build demand for a second investigation and trial in 1926. By the end of the 1926 trial, the New York Times had dedicated more space to the Hall-Mills case than any previous trial in American history.
This mini-cache's log includes a QR code that will unlock the next step in our exploration of the Hall-Mills tragedy. Good luck, and keep an eye out for our other Ghost Hunt geocaches.