0:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Mayor Kashmiraco, spring of 1906. 0:10 [SPEAKER_01]: The ancient Medina sprawls across the city's heart, a labyrinth of narrow alleyways, where tarot caught a walls, will enclose enough to brush your shoulders from both sides. 0:23 [SPEAKER_01]: The air is thick with cumin, and coriander, from the spice markets, mixing with the sharp tang of raw leather, drying in the sun, from the tanneries beyond the walls, under 0:41 [SPEAKER_01]: overhead, wooden beams support the covered suks, filtering the harsh northern African sunlight into patterns of shadow and amber. 0:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Five times a day, the muhezans call echoes across the flat rooftops, life moves to rhythms unchanged for centuries. 1:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Morocco and 1906 stands as one of the last independent nations in northern Africa. 1:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Sultan Abdul Aveziz rules from his palace in Fez, but his authority weakens daily. 1:19 [SPEAKER_01]: European powers circle France wants Morocco, Spain wants pieces of it, 1:27 [SPEAKER_01]: In April of that year, as the murders were about to discuss are being uncovered. 1:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Diplomats gather, an algecier Spain, carving up Morocco's future without asking Morocco. 1:43 [SPEAKER_01]: But America's Medina, daily life continues. 1:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Women move through the narrow streets, and they're due the buzz. 1:52 [SPEAKER_01]: The hooded robes that shield them from the sun and crying eyes, 1:56 [SPEAKER_01]: they shop at the soups. 1:59 [SPEAKER_01]: They visit the almonds, the public baths that serve as social centers, places where women gather away from men's presence, where news travels and bonds form, and when they need help with something they cannot do themselves, they turn to the craftsmen and scribes who keep the Medina's economy, running, 2:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Literacy in early 20th century Morocco is not widespread, especially among women. 2:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Reading and writing are skills mostly limited to men with formal education or religious training. 2:37 [SPEAKER_01]: For a woman who needs to send a letter, who are relative in another city, or who wants to communicate with a son serving in the military, who requires help with any written document, there is only one option. 2:51 [SPEAKER_01]: You find a public scribe. 2:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Public letter writers set at small tables in the marketplace or work from tiny shops tucked into the Medina's maze. 3:04 [SPEAKER_01]: For a few coins, they write whatever you need, a letter, a petition, a contract. 3:11 [SPEAKER_01]: They ask no questions, they judge no one's business, and because they handle intimate family matters, sensitive financial details, personal correspondence, they are trusted absolutely. 3:26 [SPEAKER_01]: A woman walking alone through the Medina to visit a scribe shop is not unusual, it is necessary, expected, normal, which makes it the perfect hunting ground. 3:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Hello friend, welcome to Fowlplay. 3:47 [SPEAKER_01]: Between 1902 and 1906, somewhere in that labyrinth of narrow alleyways, a trusted craftsman, murders, women, not strangers passing through, not random victims of opportunity, women from his own community, women who come to him for help, women who trust him, 4:11 [SPEAKER_01]: His name is Haj Mahamed Messfui, and by the time authorities finally searched his workshop in April 1906, they find the remains of 36 women buried beneath his floor, and in a garden, he owns 36. 4:29 [SPEAKER_01]: But what makes mess fewy truly infamous, what earns him headlines in newspapers from New York to London, what sparks international diplomatic protests, what marks his case as a dark milestone in the history of punishment, is not the murders themselves, it's what happens to him afterward. 4:52 [SPEAKER_01]: On June 11, 1906, authorities seal Hodge Mohamed Messfuey, alive in the walls of the Marrakech Marketplace. 5:04 [SPEAKER_01]: For two days, he screams for mercy as crowds gather to watch. 5:09 [SPEAKER_01]: By June 13th, silence, he is dead, suffocated, dehydrated, or from shock and absolute 5:21 [SPEAKER_01]: This is the story of the Marrakesh Archkiller, and the execution that shocked the world. 5:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Born into a modest family in Marrakesh's Medina, between the 1850s and the 1870s, Mesfari learned the Kshemaker's trade from his father, eventually inherited the family workshop. 5:43 [SPEAKER_00]: He was known for his attention to detail and fair prices, which helped him build a loyal customer base, particularly among the women of Marrakesh, who sought his expertise in repairing their traditional leather slippers or babooshes. 5:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who knew him described a man of quite demeanor and impeccable manners. 6:02 [SPEAKER_00]: He was regularly seen attending prayers at the local mosque, and participating in community gatherings. 6:09 [SPEAKER_00]: His workshop became a social hub where customers would often linger, sharing news and gossip while he worked. 6:15 [SPEAKER_00]: This social nature helped him establish deep connections throughout the 6:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Mesfair we maintained his respectable image through careful cultivation of relationships with influential members of the community. 6:31 [SPEAKER_00]: He made regular donations to local charitable causes and often offered his services that reduced prices to those in need. 6:40 [SPEAKER_00]: His marriage to a woman from a well-regarded family further cemented his social standing and the couple's modest lifestyle aligned perfectly with the religious values of their community. 6:50 [SPEAKER_00]: The She-Makers ability to balance his professional reputation with his religious duties made him an exemplar of traditional Moroccan values. 7:00 [SPEAKER_00]: His workshop's location, dear one of the city's main homams, meant he was perfectly positioned interact with a broad cross section of Marrakesh's society, from wealthy merchants to humble servants. 7:12 [SPEAKER_00]: He was assisted in the shop by a 70-year-old woman called Anna, 7:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Overall, he was a well-liked and respected member of the community, so no one could have suspected that this seemingly devout and respected craftsmen are but dark secrets that would soon shock the entire city to its core. 7:35 [SPEAKER_00]: The true extent of his crimes remained hidden for years, protected by both his cunning and his standing in the community. 7:47 [SPEAKER_00]: It's role as a gathering place for women, the trust placed in local craftsmen and the culture emphasis on privacy were expertly exploited by Ms. 7:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Ferry to facilitate his murderous spree. 8:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The unraveling of Misfairies crimes began with whispers among the women of the Medina. 8:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Several regular patrons had noticed the strange pattern of disappearances, particularly among women who had mentioned having their shoes repaired at Misfairies shop. 8:15 [SPEAKER_00]: These concerns initially dismissed as mere gossip, gradually gained momentum as more families reported missing relatives. 8:22 [SPEAKER_00]: The breakthrough came around 1905, when a young woman named Fatima, who had escaped an encounter with Ms. Fairway, came forward to local authorities. 8:32 [SPEAKER_00]: She described feeling unusually dizzy after accepting tea in his shop, and sensing danger had managed to flee before succumbing to the effects of the drugged beverage. 8:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Her testimony provided the first concrete link between the disappearances and the seemingly respectable shoemaker. 8:49 [SPEAKER_00]: And Ms. Fairway's assistant Anna was captured and tortured by one of the victim's families to get a confession, during which she revealed the murders. 8:58 [SPEAKER_00]: She subsequently died that day. 9:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Investigation faced numerous challenges in early 20th century Morocco, where forensic science was still in his infancy. 9:07 [SPEAKER_00]: When authorities finally searched Ms. Fairway's workshop, the horror of his crimes became immediately apparent. 9:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The methodical excavation of the dirt floor revealed the remains of 26 victims, who had been mutilated with the dagger, carefully buried beneath layers of quick lime. 9:25 [SPEAKER_00]: They then searched another property owned by him and found a further 10 bodies. 9:30 [SPEAKER_00]: The discovery sent shockwaves through the community as the true extent of his murderous campaign became clear. 9:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Investigation revealed a disturbing pattern of oversight. 9:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Many of the missing women had been reported to authorities over the years, but their disappearances had been treated as isolated incidents. 9:52 [SPEAKER_01]: The workshop sits in the Badeena's heart, a small space, like thousands of others, tools hanging on walls, leather scraps, piled in corners, the smell of oils and dyes that marks a craftsman's trade, the dirt floor is packed hard from years of foot traffic. 10:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Women have stood on this very spot, waiting for their shoes to be repaired, chatting with 10:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Authorities bring shovels, they begin digging. 10:25 [SPEAKER_01]: The first body appears less than three feet down than another, and another. 10:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The excavation continues methodically, layers of quick lime beneath the remains, suggesting someone who understood decomposition, who planned for concealment, who done this before 10:48 [SPEAKER_01]: 26 bodies beneath the workshop floor, all women, all buried with the same methodical care, all mutilated with a dagger before burial. 11:00 [SPEAKER_01]: A detail the investigators document with disturbing consistency across every set of remains. 11:08 [SPEAKER_01]: The authorities searched a second property, mess fewly owns, a small garden plot outside the Medina walls. 11:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Ten more bodies, same pattern, same quick line, same dagger wounds, 36 women total. 11:27 [SPEAKER_01]: The community's shock is absolute. 11:31 [SPEAKER_01]: These are not strangers. 11:33 [SPEAKER_01]: These are mothers, daughters, sisters. 11:36 [SPEAKER_01]: From merit cash's own neighborhoods, women who went to get shoes repaired that never came home. 11:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Women whose families filed missing persons reports, over four years, reports that were recorded, filed, and treated as isolated incidents, are authorities who never looked for patterns, never connected the dots. 12:00 [SPEAKER_01]: The forensic science in 1906 Morocco is rudimentary at best, no fingerprinting, no crime seen photography as we'd recognize it. 12:10 [SPEAKER_01]: No modern methods for determining time of death, or identifying remains. 12:16 [SPEAKER_01]: The investigators work with shovels, documentation, and eyewitness accounts. 12:21 [SPEAKER_01]: They measure, they sketch, they try to identify victims through clothing scraps and physical 12:29 [SPEAKER_01]: But many bodies are too decomposed. 12:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Most of the 36 victims will never be named in official records. 12:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Their identities are lost. 12:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Women who became statistics in a case famous for its killer. 12:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Not its victims. 12:47 [SPEAKER_01]: What the investigation does establish is methodology. 12:51 [SPEAKER_01]: The pattern is consistent across all 36 murders. 12:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Women enter a mess filled with shop for legitimate business. 13:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Chu repair, help writing a letter. 13:03 [SPEAKER_01]: He offers tea. 13:05 [SPEAKER_01]: The tea contains drugs, likely opium or another sedative readily available in the early 1900s, Morocco. 13:13 [SPEAKER_01]: The women become dizzy, disoriented, unable to resist or call for help. 13:21 [SPEAKER_01]: He kills them with a dagger, bears them beneath the workshop floor or in the garden. 13:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Returns to work as though nothing happened. 13:30 [SPEAKER_01]: The next customer walks in, stands on the packed earth that conceals the bodies below, 13:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Why? 13:42 [SPEAKER_01]: That is the question the investigators need answered. 13:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Why did Hajmo Hamid messfully murder 36 women over four years? 13:54 [SPEAKER_01]: What drove a respect to craftsmen to transform his workshop into a burial ground? 14:01 [SPEAKER_01]: The historic record provides no clear answer. 14:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Unlike many serial killers whose crimes follow sexual motivations, there is no evidence of sexual assault and misfused case. 14:15 [SPEAKER_01]: The mutilations with the dagger appear to be post-mortem, killing acts, not torture or sexual violence. 14:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Robbery is the most likely motive, though even this remains uncertain, 14:29 [SPEAKER_01]: The victims were working-class women, not wealthy, not caring significant valuables. 14:36 [SPEAKER_01]: But they'd likely had something, a few coins for shoe repair, small jewelry. 14:43 [SPEAKER_01]: The accumulated possessions of 36 women would represent moderate wealth in early 1900s, especially for a tradesman. 14:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Some later sources suggest Mesfuey sold his victim's belongings in other cities, traveling as far as he did across the region. 15:02 [SPEAKER_01]: This aligns with the pattern, take what they have, dispose of the evidence, continue working as though nothing happened. 15:12 [SPEAKER_01]: But 36 murders for moderate financial gain, the math does not add up to purely economic 15:21 [SPEAKER_01]: What we do know is opportunity. 15:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Mess fewies shop location near the Hamam, met a steady stream of female customers. 15:31 [SPEAKER_01]: His role as a occasional letterwriter provided another legitimate reason for women to visit alone. 15:39 [SPEAKER_01]: His reputation as a devout trustworthy craftsman meant no one questioned these visits. 15:45 [SPEAKER_01]: and the cultural norms that protected women's privacy. 15:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Their ability to conduct business away from male family members. 15:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Ironically, created vulnerability. 15:57 [SPEAKER_01]: A woman visiting a scribe or shoemaker alone was normal, expected, protected by social convention, until it was not. 16:08 [SPEAKER_01]: The investigation does not reveal elaborate fantasies or psychological patterns we might expect from serial murder. 16:16 [SPEAKER_01]: It reveals method, opportunity, and four years of murders hidden in plain sight in a community that trusted him, absolutely. 16:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Moroccan authorities arrest Messfewi in April 1906. 16:31 [SPEAKER_01]: He confesses to the murders. 16:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Though whether this confession is voluntary or the result of interrogation methods, Hauman in 1906 Morocco remains unclear. 16:43 [SPEAKER_01]: The historical record does not detail the interrogation process, only that Messfewi admits to killing 36 women. 16:52 [SPEAKER_01]: the trial is brief. 16:55 [SPEAKER_01]: The evidence is overwhelming. 16:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Thirty-six bodies, the workshop, the garden, the confession. 17:04 [SPEAKER_01]: By early June, 1906, mass-fuely is convicted and sentenced. 17:10 [SPEAKER_01]: The sentence is not hanging, not behaving, not firing squad, 17:17 [SPEAKER_01]: The sentence is emurement. 17:20 [SPEAKER_01]: From the Latin-Normous Wall, it means exactly what it sounds like, that they will seal him alive inside a wall. 17:30 [SPEAKER_01]: On June 11, 1906, authorities bring Hodge Mohamed Messfuey to the marketplace gates of Marrakesh. 17:40 [SPEAKER_01]: prouds gather. 17:42 [SPEAKER_01]: This execution will be public, a spectacle designed to demonstrate justice, to provide closure, to show the community that the killer has been caught and will be punished. 17:56 [SPEAKER_01]: A position must fewly upright against the wall. 17:59 [SPEAKER_01]: He is alive, conscious, aware of what is coming. 18:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Workers bring stones and mortar. 18:08 [SPEAKER_01]: They begin building a wall, around M. Fuewe's body, brick, by brick, stone, by stone. 18:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Contemporary accounts, including reports from American consular officials, in Tangier, who document the case, describe the process with disturbing specificity. 18:29 [SPEAKER_01]: As the wall rises higher, mess fewies hand is still moving. 18:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Witnesses can see it, his hand, reaching out from the gap that grows smaller with each brick, still showing signs of life. 18:46 [SPEAKER_01]: They lay the final bricks, the wall is complete. 18:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Hajmo Hammond, Messviewing, is sealed inside the city gates of Marrakesh, left to die of dehydration, suffocation, or shock, in absolute darkness. 19:06 [SPEAKER_01]: For two days, Witnesses report hearing screams from inside the wall. 19:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Mess fewy is alive in there. 19:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Sealed in darkness, unable to move, knowing exactly how he will die. 19:19 [SPEAKER_01]: The screams continue through June 11th, in June 12th. 19:25 [SPEAKER_01]: By June 13th, silence. 19:29 [SPEAKER_01]: He is dead. 19:32 [SPEAKER_01]: The international response is immediate and fierce. 19:36 [SPEAKER_01]: European powers already using incidents like this to justify their colonial ambitions. 19:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Seize on mass-fuelese execution as evidence that Morocco needs European guidance in matters of justice and civilization. 19:53 [SPEAKER_01]: diplomatic protests flood in. 19:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Newspapers from New York to London run graphic illustrations of the execution. 20:04 [SPEAKER_01]: The St. John Sun in New Brunswick, Canada, publishes a particularly detailed drawing in September 1906, showing M. Suisse Imurement with a caption describing him as the arch murderer of Marrakesh. 20:20 [SPEAKER_01]: France, already maneuvering, to establish its protectorate of Morocco. 20:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Points to the execution as proof that Moroccan judicial systems are barbaric and require European oversight. 20:36 [SPEAKER_01]: Never mind that European powers have their own recent histories of brutal public executions. 20:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Never mind the context of a community dealing with a serial killer, 20:50 [SPEAKER_01]: the execution is condemned. 20:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Morocco is condemned, and the political machinery of colonialism grinds forward. 21:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Within six years, Morocco's independence effectively ends. 21:07 [SPEAKER_01]: The treaty of Fez in 1912 establishes the French protectorate over most of Morocco, with Spain controlling 21:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Sultan Abdul Azaz, who ruled during Mesfewi's crimes and execution, is gone, forced to abdicate in favor of his brother. 21:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Mesfewi's execution stands as one of the last acts of independent Moroccan justice, before European powers take control. 21:38 [SPEAKER_01]: It is brutal, shocking, and by European 21:46 [SPEAKER_01]: What do we actually know about the case of Hodgman Hammond Meshfuey? 21:51 [SPEAKER_01]: We know this, 36 women were murdered between roughly 1902 and 1906. 21:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Their bodies were found in April 1906 buried at two locations connected to Meshfuey. 22:05 [SPEAKER_01]: He confessed to the murders. 22:07 [SPEAKER_01]: He was executed in June 1906, through a three-day torture spectacle that ended with 22:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Those facts are documented in contemporary newspapers, diplomatic cables and official reports. 22:24 [SPEAKER_01]: What we do not know is almost everything else. 22:28 [SPEAKER_01]: We do not know who most of the victims were. 22:31 [SPEAKER_01]: We do not know their names, their ages, their family's stories. 22:36 [SPEAKER_01]: We do not know if M. F. Louise Confession was complete or truthful. 22:41 [SPEAKER_01]: We do not know if there were more victims buried elsewhere. 22:44 [SPEAKER_01]: We do not know the full extent of what on a new, or how complicit she was in the crimes 22:53 [SPEAKER_01]: the case sits at a fascinating and troubling intersection of justice, brutality, and colonialism. 23:00 [SPEAKER_01]: was mass-fuey's execution excessive, by modern standards, absolutely. 23:07 [SPEAKER_01]: By 1906 European standards, clearly, but by Moroccan standards of the time, for a man who murdered 36 women from his own community, women who trusted him, who came to him for help, was the punishment proportional to the crime, 23:26 [SPEAKER_01]: European powers condemned the execution while actively working to colonize Morocco. 23:34 [SPEAKER_01]: The moral high ground gets muddy when you examine who's standing on it. 23:42 [SPEAKER_01]: In the victims, those 36 women whose names we will never know, whose stories ended in a shoemaker shop, whose bodies were found under the floor, where other women had stood, waiting for help with a ladder. 23:57 [SPEAKER_01]: They are largely forgotten in the historical record. 24:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Overshadowed by the spectacle of mess fewies punishment, reduced to numbers, in a case 24:12 [SPEAKER_01]: That is the final cruelty in this case. 24:16 [SPEAKER_01]: The killer's name indoors, his execution made headlines worldwide, but the victims remain anonymous, tragic statistics in a story dominated by its gruesome conclusion. 24:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Next time on foul play, we travel to Hungary, for a case that somehow even stranger than this one. 24:41 [SPEAKER_01]: A man who collected women's bodies in metal drums, faked his own death in World War I, and may have escaped justice entirely. 24:53 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the story of Balakish, the barrel murderer of Budapest. 25:00 [SPEAKER_01]: If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 25:03 [SPEAKER_01]: It helps others find these forgotten cases. 25:06 [SPEAKER_01]: 36 women walked into a trusted craftsman's shop and never walked out. 25:15 [SPEAKER_01]: Their names deserved to be remembered, even if history failed to preserve them. 25:22 [SPEAKER_01]: until next time remember, when desperation makes people vulnerable and trust becomes a weapon, anyone can become prey. 25:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening, friend. 26:07 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
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