Welcome to What The Heck season 4! This podcast explores unexplained phenomena using stories gathered from various sources, then applies an academic research method to find theories and solutions for each one. So far, we've been unsuccessful in finding any concrete answers, but a few of the stories we've covered have been solved. Today, we're looking at the murder of Ken Rex McElroy. After dropping out of the 8th Grade, Ken became a criminal, terrorising the town of Skidmore, Missouri. His list of crimes was long, but he served almost no jail time over the years, and forced a teenage girl to marry him to avoid consequences. In 1981 though, the town of Skidmore took matters into their own hands and Ken ended up dead. Attempts to find out who the culprit was failed. What did Ken McElroy do? Why did the town of Skidmore hate him so much? How did Ken die? Listen in to find out!

Links for other ways to listen are found here: https://linktr.ee/whattheheckpod

References for the episode:

Harvey, Austin. “Ken McElroy, The Town Bully Who Was Killed By His Victims.” All That’s Interesting, All That’s Interesting, 1 Oct. 2023, https://allthatsinteresting.com/ken-mcelroy.

Held, Kevin. “Bully’s Murder Remains a Secret in Missouri Town for 40 Years.” Fox 2 Now, Fox, 13 July 2021, https://fox2now.com/news/true-crime/missouri-town-keeps-bullys-murder-a-secret-for-40-years/.

“Town Mute for 30 Years About a Bully’s Killing.” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16bully.html . Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.

You can email Glen at whattheheckpod3@gmail.com with any of your spooky stories, unexplained events, mysteries that you want him to look at, or anything you'd like him to correct or address. Thanks for listening, and if you enjoy the podcast and think you know others who will like it, share it with them!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.