Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents.

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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves

crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. Shortly after three on the afternoon of Friday, December 30,

1921, Melbourne cab driver Joseph Graham was strolling up Little Collins Street on his way to the grocery store.

All of a sudden, a piercing high-pitched scream rang out.

The area was notoriously rowdy, but in the hundreds of times that Joseph had been

there, he'd never heard such a heart-rending scream. He described it as sounding like, a little girl terrified at what was occurring or what was about to occur.

Joseph estimated that the girl was between the ages of 10 and 15.

It sounded as if she was being dragged somewhere close by.

Five or six more screams followed, each more terrifying than the last, as the girl was slowly

drained of energy. Further down the street, another man also heard the screams. He and Joseph glanced around trying to identify where exactly the noise was coming from.

While they couldn't narrow down an exact spot, they seemed to be coming from the direction of Garnale. Oh, When Joseph Graham heard about Almaturski's murder a little over a week later, he went

straight to the police to report the screams he'd heard on Little Collins Street on the afternoon

of December 30. The officers didn't seem interesting. on the to hear them screeching for a litany of innocent reasons. Some local business owners brought

their children to work with them, including a nearby barber whose young daughter was known for

her screeching.

Despite these explanations, Joseph remained certain that what he'd heard wasn't just a child

playfully acting up.

Meanwhile, at a police station in the regional town of Ballarat, the other man who heard the screams also came forward.

...