This 19th Century Priest Was A Monster | Heinous History

On September 2, 1913 a woman boarded a small rowboat in the Hudson River and set out on a fishing trip. As she fished alone in the middle of the river, she suddenly felt something hit the side of her boat.
At first she thought it was probably just some driftwood, but then she took a closer look, and to her horror, she realized that what she was looking at was a human head. Over the next several days, more body parts would be discovered and the investigation into the murder would lead to an unlikely suspect…a local priest named Father Hans Schmidt. And the world was about to learn just how evil Father Hans really is.

Sources:

My Equipment:

My Background Decor:
Wall Paint Color: Sherwin Williams 2939 Blue Hill

[sommersanchez]

Try Honey With Superpowers™ - Head to manukora.com/SOMMER to get 3 FREE Gifts with your Starter Kit - a $25 value!

[oliviaa_clairee]

He was not religious for religion’s sake. He was religious to get his mother’s attention.

[outlawJosieFox]

John Wayne Gacy did charity work. Giving money to charity is just Hans laying down his outer persona, gaining trust of others and feeding his narcissism.

[CAKS]

Priest didn't have an issue with him being interested in young boys but him messing up during the ceremony was the big issue sick smh

[marycahill]

Retired mental health RN here. No, I don't believe he was insane. He was able to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, and he freely chose to do evil. Hans was a psychopath -- very much like Jeffrey Dahmer. The association between killing, blood, and sex early in his life is a telling point.

[jaccusefashion]

yeah...there isn't really any advice in many Parenting books on what to do if you catch your son with the hacked off head of a Rooster on his pee-pee.

[ematt]

*Hans being a creep to the alter boys
Church:..
*Hans arguing monks
Church:..
*Hans confessing disturbing things
Church:..
*Hans fumbles Holy Communion
Church: Now hold on just a minute.

[barbarabell]

My mom grew up near Sing Sing, and she remembers the lights dimming every time someone was sent to the electric chair.

[melissadwiggins]

11:21 am I the only one that pictured the dad working on the fence, then seeing his son acting strange, finishing up the nail he's working on, and then whispering to himself "weird little shit" as he drops the hammer?
😂😂😂

[lizajane]

So, the dad was home often enough to get his wife pregnant 10 times, but not often enough to know his kids' names. Nice. 🙄

[sommersanchez]

Hey everyone, I’m reading the comments and realizing that the title is a little confusing. I chose 19th century because he was born in 1881. But I see how this reads wrong since he wasn’t ordained until the early 1900’s. I appreciate the feedback, and knowing me, I’ll end up changing the title altogether 😂

[nothere]

Omg sexual at 7?!!!! When I was 7, I was making glue out of flour and peeling it off my hands 😭

[anastasijahrsak]

As a Catholic, i gotta say that his mother neglecting her children to pray and read is really NOT what church teaches to do. Doing all that while ignoring your God-given children is absolutely the opposite of what should be done, esp as a mom of 10!
I think her practice of religion was more about her mentally coping with what was going on around her and less about doing what Catholics are called to do.

[FigaroHey]

If you come from a big family, you know that parents often mix up kids' names. My mother once ran through four older boys' names, one daughter's name and the dog's name before hitting on the youngest boy's name. We never let her live that one down. The neighbors had twelve kids and we could hear the mother run through several kids' names before hitting on the one she wanted. For years I knew the first names and middle names of all 12 kids because the mother would call them by both names when they were in trouble.

[tbaby]

Am I the only one who thinks mom was possibly weird with Hans? They spent a lot of time behind closed doors alone during him speaking “mass.” They couldn’t have “mass” together when dad was home because he’d “beat mom….” Plus he was sexually active/ sexually motivated as a VERY young child which is completely abnormal for a child that has not been exposed to such… maybe I missed something but I’m totally side eyeing mom…😒

[carolynlubker]

I had never heard of this very strange story. It just kept getting weirder and weirder by the minute! Great storytelling.

[ReneeHits]

I love your videos. 90% I have not heard of these case is a plus. The only bad thing I want more. 😂 Great video

[Andrea-Marie]

When I once asked my Catholic mother why she was attending messes so often, she admitted that those hours in church were the only time when none of us children (or her husband) were "bothering" her. It was like a "legitimate" break to her, because she had never have any breaks at
She was a good mother and for sure not like Hans` mother, but being "religious" and attending churches was the only way to "escape" her hard life for a few moments

[hilarymol]

This was so interesting. And disturbing. Great storytelling, editing, and research, Sommer. Thank you for doing all this work putting the story together for all of us.

[primesspct]

** just an off topic note as a parent~~ A child messing around with another kid of the same gender, at that young an age, doesn't mean they are gay. My sister in law declared her son gay, when she caught him messing around with a neighbor kid. I told her it was just curiosity at that age and she should know better than to come to that assumption, because she was a teacher! She made a big deal of it too. It would not matter if he was, I am just saying children are curious. They used to call that playing Dr. in the old days.
He is happily married, and I pray he never heard what his Mom was saying. Instead of speaking to him and telling him that it was normal, but that they are too young to understand the full spectrum of feelings and consequences of such actions. I was very close to this nephew, he was of course cousins with my son, so I sat them down and talked to them both. It was a learning opportunity for all of us. No guilt, no shame, no presumptions
If you have children don't freak out if you see this, be honest, and keep an eye on them, Children are innocent little humans.