Tag: lostboysofhannibal

A Long Investigative Journey to Solve a Half Century Mystery in Historic Hannibal, MO.

~ John Wingate
I’ve spent years on the Hannibal missing boys story. It’s generated two books that have been embraced by readers. I experienced the drama in May 1967 as the race-against-time cave search unfolded in south Hannibal. In fact, it was this event that led me to become a television journalist and, later, a writer and author.
As a thirteen-year-old I watched, not fully able to fathom the tragedy in its full measure. Suddenly friends had vanished. The woods and hills that were our playgrounds suddenly turned ominous and foreboding.
This has been a difficult story given the dark and deadly facts. I want to thank some folks for helping along the way with expertise, insight and knowledge. FBI-trained Gina Bradshaw, Former LA Police Officer Steve Sederwall, Missouri Deputy State Geologist and expert caver Jerry Vineyard, now deceased. Dozens of cavers and speleohistorians were helpful and encouraging as I pursued the first book, Lost Boys of Hannibal.
My latest book, Souls Speak, brought three psychics into the investigative fold and they saw astonishing things, much of which was later confirmed by John Wayne Gacy’s confession on May 9, 1994, just hours before he was executed by lethal injection. And thanks to Shawn Jackson for stepping forward and revealing Gacy’s stunning deathbed confession, he heard.
We know the lost boys’ shared fate, and with that we can have a measure of closure on this decades-old mystery.
Many thanks to the readers for your support, encouragement and prayers.
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Great Review from the UK for Lost Boys of Hannibal

~ John Wingate


5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding writing, superb book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom

Excellent book. The writing style is gripping without becoming sensationalist. At times the descriptions of the cave networks were so well constructed that I felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable while reading. The author made me feel like I was almost experiencing what the lost boys and rescue teams went through. I highly recommend this book to anyone. I’m not a caver, it’s simply an enthralling true story very well told.


The Genesis of Souls Speak, an Astonishing Paranormal, True-Crime Bestseller

~ John Wingate

The genesis of Souls Speak…

On July 15, 2018, I called Lynnie, the oldest sister of the two missing Hoag boys. Her first words were, “John! Gacy killed them! They were his first kills!”

With that startling and chilling statement, the conversation launched me on a year-long odyssey that points to serial killer John Wayne Gacy as the man who abducted, tortured, and strangled three Hannibal boys, then buried them in a single hastily dug grave. The location, preserved with GPS coordinates, is only a few miles from where Joey and Billy Hoag, and their friend Edwin Dowell, were last seen on the early evening of May 10, 1967.

My latest book, Souls Speak: missing children reveal their serial killer from beyond is the product of the year-long probe, conducted with three experienced clairvoyants who peered across the boundary between this world and the heavenlies and connected with the etheric spiritual energy of the boys and Gacy himself.

The Hoag boys were friends of mine, and over these past five decades their families and many friends have grieved them.

Writing about the missing boys incident has brought its challenges. A relative of Edwin Dowell has sent threatening messages promising harm to me and my family. The relative, only a little boy when the three Hannibal boys went missing, is still engaging in juvenile behavior born of trauma. My team’s sole goal is to find the boys so they may be put to rest.

#soulsspeak #johnwingate #missingchildren #hannibal #serialkillers #johnwaynegacy #lostboysofhannibal

New “Killer Clown” Mystery. Troubling, Squared.

~ John Wingate
Gary Reagen, former WRAU-TV News Director

A former TV news colleague has written an inciteful review about my new book – Souls Speak – the most astonishing true story you will ever read.

Here’s former WRAU-TV News Director Gary Reagen’s review:

“I was a journalist working in TV news in the years when that monster, John Wayne Gacy, the so-called “Killer Clown”, was so often headline news. Many people in the justice system and elsewhere reportedly believed that Gacy was never held to account for all his crimes; there were so many unanswered questions.

When I read John Wingate’s first book, “Lost Boys of Hannibal”, I was fascinated by the heroic efforts of so many would-be rescuers but also troubled by the unanswered questions “Lost Boys” raised – including the possibility that they were victims of a criminal, not a cave in.

Wingate’s follow-up book, “Souls Speak,” is a chiller. It is troubling squared. Count me a skeptic when it comes to psychics and mediums. Count me a skeptic, too, of anyone who claims we know the full truth about Gacy’s full list of horrors. But after reading this book … well, best have an open mind about whether this is a long-cold case or whether it offers new and accessible evidence. Highly recommended.”