If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ – Bonus Episodes: “Teresita Basa: Voice from the Grave” 

In February 1977, the body of Edgewater Hospital employee Teresita Basa was found badly burned in her apartment. Firefighters were shocked to discover a knife protruding from the center of her chest. With few clues and multiple dead end leads, the case went cold. Things changed in the summer of 1977 when Teresita’s ghost allegedly returned from the grave to identify her killer. The “ghost” inhabited the body of another hospital employee (named Remy Chua) and claimed that a third Edgewater Hospital employee (Allan Showery) had murdered Teresita. Sounds unbelievable, right?

The case fell in the hands of Chicago Police Detective Joe Stachula. After being questioned by Det. Stachula, Allan Showery quickly confessed to Teresita’s murder. But Showery later told police he was “just kidding” and recanted his confession.

The case went to trial in 1979 and made headlines all across the world. 

Did Teresita’s ghost really help to solve her own murder? Would a jury actually believe this story? And what other notorious criminal with roots at Edgewater Hospital was involved? 

We explore the shocking story from beginning to the unexpected conclusion in our two-part bonus series of If the Walls Could Talk. We then answer your questions in a special Q&A bonus episode.

Some other tidbits about the Teresita Basa story:

• Although many characters from this saga are still alive today, no one has seen or heard from Allan Showery since the early-2000s

• At least three other Edgewater Hospital employees reportedly saw the ghost of Teresita Basa — but none of them wanted to come forward

• The sister of Illinois Governor James Thompson was one of the lawyers who defended Allan Showery; Gov. Thompson used to fly by helicopter to and from the state’s capital in Springfield by way of Edgewater Hospital’s helipad 

• The original Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack profiled this case in 1990 (watch the clip on YouTube)

• Unsolved Mysteries co-creator ranks the Basa murder as one of the show’s Top 10 Creepiest Cases ever profiled

• Following the arrest of Allan Showery, Detective Stachula became the butt of many jokes among fellow policemen — his colleagues were said to leave him phone messages from people who were dead

• Unsolved Mysteries changed the Chua’s name in order to protect their privacy — yet the Chua’s already had authored their own book about the story in 1979

• Those working on the Chua’s book reported unusual activity at their offices like mysterious phone calls and notes flying around the room

• Reme’s husband, Dr. Jose Chua, worked at Franklin Boulevard Community Hospital in Chicago — which later became Sacred Heart; Sacred Heart closed in 2013 after the feds unraveled a fraud scheme similar to what happened at Edgewater Hospital

• A made-for-TV movie about the Basa story called Voice From the Grave aired on NBC. It starred Kevin Dobson and Megan Ward

• Along with the Chua’s book, another comprehensive book about the case was published by journalists John O’Brien and Edward Baumann called Teresita: The Voice from the Grave 

• In another odd twist, Teresita’s remains were flown to her native Philippines to be buried — but the cemetery where she’s said to buried…does not exist

In Part 2 of our Teresita Basa Bonus Episode (“The Trial”), hear who testified in the unusual and shocking murder trial of Allan Showery. Plus, Acadia Einstein (who hosts the podcast Strangeful Things) shares one theory about what many people believe really happened. Listen to his light-hearted take in an episode called “The Teresita Basa Murder Mystery“.

We answer a dozen of your questions in our Q&A episode including: were there other suspects? What happened to Showery’s first wife? Why was Teresita’s door locked when the fire department arrived? How long does a jury have to deliberate before a judge can call a “hung jury”? And some other bizarre connections to Edgewater Hospital.

Support us on Patreon and learn more in-depth stories about the Teresita Basa story — including why one of Allan’s lawyers was later disbarred, who the other suspects were and the bizarre connection Edgewater Hospital administrators Peter Rogan and Roger Ehmen have to this case. 

Unlock hours of bonus material about Edgewater Hospital in our weekly “Second Opinion” episodes. Plans start at just $10/month.

The entire series of If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ is now available. One easy way to support this independently-produced series is to leave If the Walls Could Talk a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.