61: The Ha Ha Tonka Castle and the Acid Doctor

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When Kansas City businessman Robert McClure Snyder ordered the construction of Ha Ha Tonka Castle, he thought he was building the ultimate vacation home. In a way, he was. Robert spared no expense for his massive home. Construction began in the early 1900s, and at one time, boasted a construction crew of 200 people. But the Ha Ha Tonka dream home ultimately became a nightmare for the Snyder family.

Then, Kristin horrifies us with the story of Dr. Geza de Kaplany. Geza felt certain that his wife, Hajna Piller, was cheating on him. He didn’t have any evidence, but that didn’t shake his certainty. So what did Geza do? He loaded up a suitcase with a butcher knife, three bottles of acid, and restraints, and waited for his wife to come home.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Acid Doctor,” by David Krajicek The Daily News
“Geza gets life, wants to atone,” The Oakland Tribune
The book, “Doctors Who Kill: Profiles of Lethal Medics,” by Carol Anne Davis
“Mother of DeKaplany’s son called,” Oakland Tribune
“State rebuttal — De Kaplany sane,” Oakland Tribune
“Dramatic ‘pretty girl’ De Kaplany photo,” Oakland Tribune
“De Kaplany shifts to guilty plea,” Oakland Tribune
“De Kaplany yells at psychiatrist,” Oakland Tribune
“Doctor held after acid scars,” Milwaukee Sentinel
“Geza de Kaplany,” wikipedia entry
“Slashed bride better,” Associated Press

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“James A. Reed: Legendary Lawyer; Marplot in the United States Senate” by J. Michael Cronan
“The tragic story of the mansion and the Snyder family” by Paul Johns, The Christian County Headliner
“MOzarks Moments: The senator, the seamstress, the gangster and Ha Ha Tonka” by Paul Johns, Bolivar Herald-Free Press
“The Lake on Trial” by Michael Gillespie, lakehistory.info