Hidden in the Walls: Uncovering the Story of The Denver Spider-Man

Peel back the curtain on the unnerving trend of phrogging with us, as we navigate through the shadows lurking in the unlikeliest of places—our own homes. The chilling saga of the Denver Spider-Man, Theodore Coney, unfolds, revealing the dark underbelly of seemingly mundane spaces. These stories of home-dwelling intruders serve as stark reminders that not all guests leave; some choose to stay hidden in plain sight, feeding on the sanctuary we take for granted.

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Chapters

• 1:57 Murder and Mystery at Denver House
• 14:55 Podcast Farewell and Thank You

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:57

Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tale of the Black Eyed Children, dark Crossroads Podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode. Have you ever heard of frogging? If you haven't, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret here. I'm covering this episode today because this topic specifically has been requested many, many times. So I am doing today's story, but I will also be doing more in the future.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Frogging is when somebody lives in your home without you knowing, and even celebrities have been targeted, including George Michael and Pamela Anderson. The word comes from the idea that a frogger is similar to how a frog jumps around from place to place. Victims often feel as though someone is watching them sleep, or they may find things such as their hairbrushes or tools being misplaced around their home, as well as food being left out and crumbs littered across the kitchen. Sometimes, these so-called froggers simply want a warm and dry place to stay, but others do it for the thrill and frogging forums and chat rooms have exploded online for tips and recommended locations. If you did not think there was such a thing, there is an expert on frogging and her name is Krista Ruther and she revealed why people become froggers and why it is on the rise. She stated the overarching motive is probably desperation and wanting to be somewhere safe, but I can imagine it being a thrill to some. Last year, a thrilling documentary series titled Frogging Hider in my House featured survivors sharing their most skin-crawling and creepy stories. Before the creation of the fictional crime-fighting Spider-Man, there was a very real Denver Spider-Man. But the Denver Spider-Man was a far cry from his superhero counterpart. In fact, he was a murderer.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Theodore Coney was born November 10, 1882, in Pittsburgh, illinois. In 1888, theodore and his mother moved to a farm in Wisconsin, and then they moved to Denver, colorado, in 1907, where she worked as a housekeeper at the Denver Democratic Club. She then died in 1911. Theodore suffered from poor health and had been told by doctors not to expect to see his 18th birthday, so he did not finish high school. As an adult he worked as a bookkeeper at the Denver Brass Works, in advertising and sales, yet spent much of his adult life homeless. He resented the way he was treated by others for his frail condition, later expressing that he wanted a place where he could be alone and free from judgment of others. Because of his health, and also perhaps because at the time it was the Great Depression, theodore struggled to keep a job long-term and frequently found himself without a place to live except for doorways and alleys around Denver.

Speaker 1: 5:18

In 1941, theodore fell on hard times and to be able to get through he decided to go ask a friend for some help. In September of 1941, he went to the home of an old friend, 73-year-old Philip Peters. Theodore and Philip had been good friends many years earlier, and Theodore often went to Philip's home in Denver, colorado, to play in a music club. When he arrived, the house was empty. Philip had gone to visit his wife in the hospital, who had suffered a broken hip, much like he had done every single day since the accident. Philip was a retiree of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and had lived in his home on West Moncrief Place for over three decades. He was married to Helen, and their three children were now adults, one of whom lived in Grand Junction. Not only was Philip a former railroad employee, he was a husband and father, but was also a musician and member of the Denver Guitar Club, where he and his wife sometimes gave guitar and mandolin lessons. In fact, it was through the Denver Guitar Club that Philip first met the man who would be his murderer.

Speaker 1: 6:25

For the five weeks leading up to his murder, he had been staying in his house alone because his wife was recovering at St Anthony's Hospital. His neighbors opened their homes to him in the evenings so that he wouldn't have to be alone at dinner time and so he can enjoy a hot, home-cooked meal and leftovers to take for his lunch the next day. Nevertheless, theodore decided to let himself into the house and while rummaging through some things, he found a tiny door that led to an attic room. Theodore was a rather small man and he managed to fit inside and decided to make this his home. He later stated I thought this attic would be my shelter during the oncoming winter. Theodore lived in the house undiscovered, for about five weeks.

Speaker 1: 7:10

On October 17th of 1941, philip discovered a tall, gaunt and disheveled man raiding his freezer. Philip struck at him with a cane that he carried, but Theodore clubbed him with an old pistol he had found in the house. After the gun broke apart, theodore continued with a heavy iron stove shaker and ended up bludgeoning the 73-year-old man to death. Theodore then returned to the attic cubby hole as if nothing had happened. Philip's body was discovered later, the same day after a neighbor that was concerned that he had not come by for dinner ended up calling the police. They searched the home but couldn't find any evidence of the murder. It was as if he had just vanished into thin air. The killer took time to wash his hands and to wipe off the murder instrument so he could have taken time for the robbery, stated Detective Captain.

Speaker 1: 7:59

At the time, the elderly man had no enemies, making revenge an unlikely motive as well. His wife was not at home and neighbors were keeping an eye out for him. Fingerprints were found but yielded no leads, as they were just from the neighbors. Those same neighbors were the ones that found him sprawled on the floor of a bedroom inside of his house, with blood everywhere. Police described the brutal slaying as without mercy, as blood had even spattered onto the ceiling and was spread in different rooms throughout the house. It was evident that Philip had struggled during the assault. He died after being struck 37 times with the cast iron makeshift weapon.

Speaker 1: 8:37

While detectives dug into Peters' past, searching for enemies who hated him enough to want him dead. Mrs Peters was eventually released from the hospital and returned home as a widow. A good friend of hers moved in to help around the house. In the months following Mrs Peters' return, she and her friend reported strange things happening around the house Food missing, strange sounds, things out of place. The housekeeper, while living there, once called the police, stating Just a few minutes ago I heard sort of a tapping noise. I heard it before, but I thought it was only some woodpeckers. But this time I walked into the kitchen and I saw the door to the stairway that leads upstairs slowly opening. A foot came out and then I saw a thin white hand on the door. I screamed and the man ducked back into the stairway and I heard him running up the steps. The friend was convinced that the house was haunted and she ended up leaving while Mrs Peters decided to relocate to Grand Junction to live with her son.

Speaker 1: 9:31

So the house at this point stood vacant and the strange sounds and disgusting smells continued to be reported to police, but they could not find anyone in the house. Police found all the home's doors and windows were locked and there was no other sign of forced entry. They noted the trap door but believed a normal-sized person could not fit through it. Mabel Burke and her five children lived next door to the house and would consistently see lights going on and off, once even arming herself with a baseball bat, and knocking on the door. Theodore remained in this vacant house with the occasional signs of his occupation written off as an apparition or local pranksters.

Speaker 1: 10:10

Everything changed in July of 1942, once Denver police decided to station two detectives outside of the house and keep it under surveillance instead of waiting for a call from the neighbors. The vigilance paid off when they both spotted a man inside of the house. They ran inside but discovered the house was empty until they heard a noise upstairs. They opened a closet door just in time to spot a pair of legs disappearing into a small opening in the house attic. They grabbed the legs and pulled the man attached to them back to the ground. He was taken into police custody and confessed to the crimes.

Speaker 1: 10:45

When police had finally caught the man, he was described by them as the strangest looking human I had ever seen. He was tall, just under six feet but thin as a wilted weed. His dirty hair hung low over his ears and his skin was the ugly unwashed gray of an overcast sky. His shoes and clothes were rotted and torn. One of the officers told Childers when he was discovered. He first told police that his name was Matthew Cornish. After feeding him a hamburger, apple pie and some coffee, police began questioning the transient. The 59-year-old man kept one panel unlocked to the crawlspace above the home and would lock it from the inside when he retreated to his attic abode. At first he denied this and then he proceeded to tell the truth, which was very much stranger than any fiction.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Theodore had come there as a sick boy with his widowed mother. After his mother's death, he felt as if he was a lost soul, drifting from town to town. When he returned to Denver, as a homeless person, sleeping in alleyways and doorways and spending a dime a day on food, he decided that he would return to a long-lost friend, philip Peters. When he went to the house and discovered that Philip had gone to the hospital to visit his wife, he decided to just let himself into the home and try to find food shelter, but at the time discovered a loose panel leading up to the attic. The space was 27 inches high and 57 inches wide. He was able to make it his home, so he stayed, and when the house was vacant he would slip downstairs, grab some food, just a little bit at a time. So as not to draw suspicion, he cut into the house's wiring system to install an outlet in the attic. He stockpiled the Peters canned goods. He even built a makeshift radio to stay in touch with the outside world.

Speaker 1: 12:38

His ghostly existence was disturbed one evening as he had slipped downstairs to make some coffee for himself. He thought that Philip was out to dinner. But instead Philip had entered through his back door as the unwanted houseguest was standing at his kitchen stove. Theodore hit Philip over the head with an old .44 caliber revolver in the kitchen and Philip, stunned, moved to the living room to call police, hitting Philip again. Theodore told police. He thought he had knocked him out and he planned to take money and just leave. Instead he heard Philip in the bedroom and that's when he told police. He beat the elderly man with the stove shaker until he was

Speaker 1: 13:15

still. Stranger still, theodore continued to stay in the home. He heard the news of Philip's death on his makeshift radio while hiding in the tiny attic above the very room in which he killed the old man. Theodore insisted to police that beating Philip had been a split-second decision. After he had killed him, theodore insisted to police that beating Philip had been a split-second decision. After he had killed him, theodore sought refuge up in the attic where he stayed until July. Denver police sent their smallest officer up into the cramped attic where Theodore had made himself a nest of sorts. He had collected his waste and had not bathed during his attic residency. Eventually, police detectives returned to the home to see Theodore's habitat. Local newspapers dubbed him the sneaky sneaky Spider-Man of Denver After police detective Fred Zarnow remarked a man would have to be a spider to stand it long up

Speaker 1: 14:05

there. On Halloween of 1942, a jury took just 90 minutes to convict Theodore guilty of murder and he was given life in prison instead of the gas chamber. Upon his sentencing, theodore was quoted to say Now I feel safe. I'll have a better home than I have had in years. He was imprisoned in Canyon City until his death in 1967. Philip Peter was described as being kind, steady and well-respected by everybody around him. While in prison, theodore became a model prisoner. He took up a job in the prison electric shop and his life behind bars was likely much more preferable to his life in the cramped

Speaker 1: 14:44

attic. Alrighty, so it's that time, guys, to say goodbye, but before I do so, I just want to send a thank you to all of my listeners for your continued love and support and for sending in cases that you want covered and stories that you want read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories, including scary, paranormal and funny. Any cases you want covered or stories that you want read on the podcast. Just please send them in to darkcrossroadspodcast at gmailcom. Thank you for hanging out again today, and if you want any more information about the podcast or cases and stories that we cover, then head on over to the website at wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom. There you can find all of the information about the podcast, a link to our merch and also our blog covering all of the cases that we cover. You can also find us on all social media

Speaker 1: 15:45

platforms. Don't forget to like, share, rate, review, subscribe wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast for bonus information. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that we'll send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of extra goodies. Every single dollar that comes through donations or through our subscription goes straight into the podcast, helping fund research, and it really helps us out and keeps this podcast going. And with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone. Dark crossroads podcast is brought to you by Problem Wildlife. Problem Wildlife serves all of western Massachusetts and has been humanely protecting your house and your family from unwanted pests for over 20 years. Take back your space with an animal control service that you can trust. They are family-owned, fully licensed and are knowledgeable and dependable. To find out more about their service, simply visit their website at wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom, and their information will be included in our show notes.