Acts of Violet(64)
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: This is what we need to be careful about in our line of investigation, overlooking the rational explanation in a rush to classify something as paranormal. My ideological Venn diagram is made up of science, philosophy, and intuition. I try to inhabit the area where all three overlap.
CAMERON FRANK: Fair enough. Why don’t we begin with you sharing a little about your background?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: I studied mathematics, physics, and software engineering at a respectable school where I earned a graduate and postgraduate degree. I worked for a number of years at companies specializing in GPS technology. When I realized my credentials would never qualify me to work anywhere with a more ambitious scope—I was getting bored toiling away on radio navigation systems, NASA wouldn’t be calling anytime soon, and SpaceX was in its infancy—I plotted an exit strategy. Went freelance. This freed me up to pursue more experimental and far more fulfilling projects, even when they’re less lucrative.
CAMERON FRANK: Looking at your more recent credentials, I see you’ve consulted and appeared on various cable TV shows that cover different areas of high strangeness. Would you consider yourself to be a paranormal investigator?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: That’s a label I find to be both reductive and an open invitation to derision. I am part of a collective that respects the scientific method while aggregating and analyzing cases that defy conventional logic.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: I tried to coax her into saying more about this “collective”—I don’t know about you, but when I hear about a secretive close-knit community, I immediately think “cult”—but she would say nothing further about it, other than to emphasize that this group doesn’t seek out publicity, nor do they do any active recruitment. No recruitment does make it sound less cult-y, but I’m still curious. Maybe there’s something there for season two of Strange Exits? Anyway, back to the interview.
CAMERON FRANK: What sort of cases do you analyze?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: We all have our areas of special interests and expertise. Mine is unusual disappearances.
CAMERON FRANK: Ah, so you do follow the Missing 411 phenomenon.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: For those unfamiliar, Missing 411 is a body of investigative work from David Paulides, a former police officer who’s collected cases of disappearances, primarily from national parks, that defy logical and conventional explanations. Examples include hiking groups in which a single member vanishes without a trace, never to be seen again despite exhaustive searches, or found in an area searched multiple times (sometimes dead, other times with no recollection of where they’d been). While the phenomenon has its share of detractors, who are quick to dispute the data and minimize Paulides’s credibility due to his prior work related to Bigfoot, the sheer volume of what he’s collected is impressive—we’re talking thousands of hours of research compiling over fourteen hundred Missing 411 cases.
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Paulides has offered a few examples I find compelling, but I don’t always agree with his methodology. He casts a wide net, whereas I prefer to use a smaller sample size and investigate specific occurrences in greater depth.
CAMERON FRANK: One of those occurrences being Violet Volk’s disappearance?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Indeed.
CAMERON FRANK: What drew you to this particular case?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Cases. Plural. I don’t think you can look at Volk’s case without also considering the 1917 disappearance of Analise Margolis. Each would be intriguing on its own, but seeing that both women vanished—suddenly, strangely—in the same specific area makes them doubly so.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: I must confess, until I did additional research after this interview, I wasn’t familiar with Analise Margolis, who mysteriously vanished from a private estate that later became the site of the Witkin Theater. I’ve linked to a couple of stories in the show notes that offer a brief overview on Margolis and the estate’s history.
CAMERON FRANK: Where has your research into these cases led you?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: To Willow Glen, naturally. In all seriousness, I’ve read everything I could find related to the disappearances, with special attention given to architectural and geographical records. I’ve paid numerous visits to the Witkin Theater—formerly the Worthington Estate—but, unfortunately, I’ve only been able to do limited investigations of the grounds and the theater’s interior before being chased off. The numerous requests I’ve made to inspect the backstage and basement areas of the building have been denied.
CAMERON FRANK: It’s unusual that you’ve done a deep dive into the “where.” I feel like most would focus more on the “why.”
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: I don’t believe the “why” is the right avenue to explore here. I’ve gotten ahold of partial police reports, both of which eliminate suspicions of foul play and conclude the women disappeared of their own volition. Both had reasons to do so. From what limited records I could find, there were reports that the Margolis patriarch forbade Analise from marrying a mine foreman she’d fallen in love with. And Violet Volk’s looming lawsuits, IRS audit, and money laundering suspicions were common knowledge. Nevertheless, whatever each woman’s motivations may have been, I find it more useful to study the “where” and “how.”
CAMERON FRANK: Right, so in terms of architecture and geography, what are you looking for? Secret passages that may have been overlooked by other investigators?