The first comes from a man recalling an experience as a six-year-old boy living directly behind Stanley Arthur Hart's property in Yatina, Regional South Australia. He describes a room called a playroom, a space he was taken into and not allowed to leave.

The second account comes from an adult witness who visited the same property years later. What he encountered appeared unusual, even at that time: a sick woman in bed, a floor strewn with wasted medication, a conversation about a caravan, and an attached room, known as a shed, containing jars described as animal specimens.

Individually, these are fragments. Together, they raise questions.

This episode does not present conclusions.

It presents testimony, memory, and environment and examines how spaces can be normalised, explained away, and later understood differently.

As Sleepers continues its investigation into cold cases, historical abuse, and unresolved questions in South Australia,

Evil Play asks listeners to consider what was seen… and what was missed.

If you have information relevant to this series, you can reach out confidentially.

Listener discretion advised.

🎤 Sleepers Live — True Crime Event

Join Bryan Littlely live as Sleepers steps off the podcast and into the room.

📍 Arkaba Hotel, Adelaide

🎟️ Tickets & details: https://www.arkabahotel.com.au/?bn_event=sleepers-live-true-crime-feat-bryan-littlely

#SleepersPodcast

#Playrooms

#AustralianTrueCrime

#ColdCasesAustralia

#SouthAustralia

#TrueCrimePodcast

#UnsolvedCases

#InvestigativePodcast

#HistoricalAbuse

#TrueCrimeCommunity

Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stamp meetings, tennis courts, and coffee with family.

What she describes is not the public persona.

It is a locked room...

A dying wife living in dim light.

A warning whispered: ‘Please don’t come back… it’s bad here for you.’

And a man capable of charm in public and force in private.

Through lived experience, this witness reveals the duality she now recognises: a respected community figure who, in her words, was a ‘chameleon’.

This episode does not deal in speculation. It deals in memory, pattern, and behaviour and asks whether concealment allowed something darker to operate for decades.

If you have information relevant to the matters discussed in SLEEPERS, you can contact us confidentially.

Always remember — Fight Like Jo!

#SleepersPodcast, #TheChameleon, #StanHart, #SouthAustralia, #TrueCrimeAustralia, #ColdCase

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Family Ties, brothers Mark and Stephen Marshall confront memories that have followed them since childhood. One recalls being lifted onto his brother’s shoulders and told to look inside what was called Poppa’s Jail. The other, decades later, faces that memory

.

Interviewed by Bryan Littlely, their accounts are raw, fragmented, and deeply unsettling, not because of what they claim, but because memory, denial, and family silence collide.

This episode sets the tone for Season Two: quieter, darker, and driven by testimony that refuses to stay buried.

We’ve been away over Christmas, but we haven’t been idle.

More interviews.

More voices.

More threads are already pulling tight.

This is only the beginning.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly sixty years, she held her silence.

She was a young mother on holiday at Glenelg on Australia Day 1966, sitting on the grass with her children, when a little boy played with her son on their picnic blanket.

His name was Grant Beaumont.

In this episode, she tells her story.

She describes the man she saw with the children, the moment he rose and walked them toward the side shows, and the fear that drove her to flee South Australia the very next day. Her memories are clear, consistent, and unchanged across decades, and now, they become part of the public record.

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Beaumont disappearance on Australia Day 2026, this testimony raises new questions about old assumptions, long-dismissed leads, and the urgent need for renewed investigative action.

Sleepers will continue in 2026, examining not only the Beaumont case but also cold cases across South Australia. The Adelaide Oval abductions, the 1980s Family murders, and the many stories still waiting in the shadows.

If you know something… say something. - Your voice matters.

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, you hear her voice for the first time.

Hannah takes us inside the threats, the fear, and the world of Les Davis as she lived it from the age of six.

She speaks about photographs, a white dress, digging in underground tanks, and the moments that shaped the trauma.

Details she has carried, unchanged, for decades.

Then, for the first time, her older sister Rachael steps forward as a second corroborating witness.

Rachael independently confirms the fear in the household and the danger their father repeatedly tried to report to the police.

She also brings new insight into Les’s behaviour, movements, and the patterns that now appear impossible to dismiss.

Two sisters.

Two perspectives, inside and outside.

One story that aligns across time, memory, and lived experience.

This is not rumour.

This is not speculation.

This is raw, consistent, and long overdue. testimony

.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
• International Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com

#SleepersPodcast #AustralianTrueCrime #ColdCases #BeaumontChildren #AdelaideOvalAbductions #SurvivorVoices #LesDavis #SouthAustraliaHistory #ChildProtection #InvestigativeJournalism

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through the voice of Kane Davis, Les’s own grand-nephew, we hear the first-ever family account of a figure long hidden from the public record. His movements, his crimes, his aliases, and his presence at Glenelg during the Beaumont Investigations all begin to form a pattern that can no longer be dismissed.

Then Bryan and Brad break down the details that have never seen daylight:

• Confirmed multiple identities
• Direct overlap with known offenders
• New locations, timelines and witness confirmations
• A behaviour profile that matches historical suspects
• Evidence and photographs that disappeared from public view

Episode 10 also brings a significant breakthrough:

The first known arrest photographs of Les Davis were taken in 1952 at just nineteen years old. These images, presented alongside the Beaumont identikit, reveal a likeness too strong to ignore.

They are available on our Substack page.

What emerges in this episode is not a coincidence.

It is a network.

And it is one South Australia has avoided confronting for decades.

And this story is far from over.

In Episode 11, we speak to Hannah, who lived under Les Davis’s control.

What she reveals will change everything.

#SleepersPodcast #TrueCrimeAustralia #BeaumontChildren #AdelaideOvalAbductions #LesDavis #SouthAustraliaCrime #ColdCaseInvestigation #ChildProtection #AustralianTrueCrime

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1973, seven-year-old Donna was at the Adelaide Oval the day Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon disappeared.

She played with two little girls outside the toilets. Then they were gone.

Police interviewed Donna soon after, took her statement, and promised to follow up on the matter. They never did.

For fifty years, her memories sat alone until now.

In this episode, Donna shares what she saw that day, what she later learned about her own father, and how her life became entangled with the family of the man long suspected of taking those girls — Stanley Arthur Hart.

Her testimony reveals a chilling web of names, methods, and silences stretching across generations:

• A father who used hypnosis like Hart once did.
• A grandson who repeated the same violence.
• Families whose lives kept circling the same dark secret.

It’s not coincidence. It’s connection.

And as this web tightens, the pattern of South Australia’s hidden crimes begins to take its true shape.

Hosted by Bryan Littlely. Narration by Max Marten.

Music by Cody Martin.

Produced by Bearslayer Media / Leave A Light On Inc.

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In conversations with journalist Bryan Littlely, the survivor of the 1966 assault that ultimately led to the only prison time that Stanley Arthur Hart ever served, they recall growing up in Stan Hart's orbit, a man they would both quickly realise was the monster hiding in plain sight.

From their first memories of the terror to the police investigations and successive governments that failed them, their stories reveal the human cost of silence and the strength it takes to speak after so long.

Max Marten’s narration traces how a 2013 call to police set off the SAPOL Major Crime dig, how other survivors’ voices converged, and how two adjoining properties in Yatina have become a symbol of everything South Australia still refuses to confront.

As the final minutes unfold, one quiet statement from Amanda stops everything cold:

‘That wasn’t my shoe.’

A phrase that reopens the questions the state never answered, and propels Sleepers toward its most unsettling chapter yet.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

🌏 Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)

Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636

• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
• International Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of SLEEPERS, the silence is broken by voices that can no longer be ignored.

Three Warrior Women, survivors, witnesses, and sisters, step forward to reveal what they saw, what they lived through, and what was covered up.

Their accounts point deeper into the shadows of Stanley Arthur Hart and expose the cracks in systems that failed to protect the innocent.

What they share is confronting, unsettling, and impossible to dismiss.

And it is only the beginning. The revelations in this series are gathering momentum.

What lies ahead will challenge everything you thought you knew about the Adelaide Oval abductions.

SLEEPERS is not just unearthing the past. It is forcing the truth into the light.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

🌏 Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Blue Knot Foundation – Counselling for adult survivors of childhood trauma: 1300 657 380
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
• International Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cornelius’s testimony doesn’t just revisit Liddy’s crimes; it connects to Stan Hart’s network, our prime suspect in the abduction and murder of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. Paul's experience draws new lines to convicted offender Tony Munro. His account also reopens the trail to Steve Williams, Gypsy Jokers president, who vanished after revealing too much.

Snakes in the Grass is a story of survival and exposure, a reminder that the dangers were never just on the streets, but in the institutions meant to protect us.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

🌏 Support Services

🇦🇺 Australia

• Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
• Blue Knot Foundation – Counselling for adult survivors of childhood trauma: 1300 657 380
• MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
• 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)

🌍 International

United States

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

United Kingdom

• NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
• Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
• NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

Canada

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

New Zealand

• Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
• Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

Europe (general)

• 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
• 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

Global

• Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
• International Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From firsthand memories of the Adelaide parklands to lost police reports, overlooked sightings, and new connections to persons of interest, this is the episode where long-held silence begins to crack.

You’ll hear directly from listeners, ordinary people with extraordinary insight, who may hold the missing pieces that were never pursued, never filed, and never followed up on.

As new witness names surface and old suspicions are re-examined, the question becomes unavoidable:

Were we told the whole story in 1973? Or were key voices left out?

The Sleepers are waking.

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is not just a recollection, it’s a revelation that challenges everything we thought we knew about the Adelaide Oval abduction. From a timeline that no longer holds to police being denied access to key areas of the Oval, unknown Bones uncovers details long buried, and asks the questions no one else has.

Because when the official story doesn’t match the lived truth… It’s time to listen to the voices left behind.

Abbreviations & Explanations

ACB = The Australian Cricket Board - the governing body of all cricket matters in Australia.

COPPERS = Australian slang for Police

FAT CAT = Fat Cat was a popular children's television program for South Australian Children.

FAT CAT CAME ON = Adelaide Local Television Channel 10 would put to air a 2-minute broadcast every weeknight at 7:30 pm of FAT CAT - 'going to bed'. - parental help at 'bedtime'

ST. JOHN'S = The St. John Ambulance Service, precursor to the SA Ambulance Service, volunteer uniformed community qualified first aiders who patrol and provide first aid and patron assistance at South Australian sporting and community events to the present day.

SACA = South Australian Cricket Association - co-owner and administrator of the Adelaide Oval to the present day

SANFL = South Australian National Football League - co-owner of Adelaide Oval to the present day

SAPOL = South Australia Police Force

REDLEGS = Norwood Football Club - One of the teams playing that day

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this powerful episode of SLEEPERS, we bring you the harrowing story of Alfredo Paglia, known to all as FRED. A survivor who has spent more than a decade trying to make his voice heard.

Fred's experience is not just personal; it’s deeply connected to the broader investigation into the Adelaide Oval abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. He names names, maps connections, and details an alleged network of abuse that, until now, has remained mainly in the shadows.

With raw honesty and unwavering courage, Fred recounts the times he stepped forward to the police, to the powers that be, and the responses he received. He speaks not with bitterness, but with determination. And in doing so, he becomes a voice for many still waiting for justice.

Alongside our growing team of researchers, Bryan Littlely and Max Marten explore the significance of Fred’s revelations and the patterns of inaction that have haunted this case for decades.

This is not just another interview. It’s a call to remember. A call to act. A call to never again let these stories fall through the cracks.

Because at SLEEPERS, the past doesn’t sleep.

And neither do we.

Abbreviations - SAPOL = South Australian Police Force

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anthony isn’t just a witness. He’s the witness. The only person to see the abductor’s face up close and give the description that built the first identikit image in the case. For decades, his voice was largely absent from public view, until now.

In this raw, unfiltered conversation recorded just days ago, Anthony shares the details still burned into his memory half a century later, the sounds, the faces, and the moment that changed everything.

This is why sleepers is different. We’re not just telling you a story; we’re in the middle of a journalistic investigation, speaking directly to the people who lived it, and putting you in the room with us where, just maybe, the truth may emerge.

Click HERE for Episode Acknowledgements.

And remember…

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On August 25, 1973, 11-year-old Joanne Ratcliffe and 4-year-old Kirste Gordon left their seats during a football match at Adelaide Oval… and never came back. Despite thousands of witnesses, multiple sightings, and decades of investigation, their disappearance remains one of South Australia’s darkest mysteries.

In this opening episode of sleepers, investigative journalist Bryan Littlely and producer Max Marten take you back to that spring afternoon — the bustling crowd, the frantic search, and the chilling last images of the girls seen with a strange man in a 1950s-style fedora.

We explore police theories, forgotten leads, the flawed identikit sketch that shaped the case, and the long shadow this crime cast over a community already haunted by the Beaumont children’s disappearance just seven years earlier.

This is where sleepers begins: with two little girls, a stadium full of people, and a predator who vanished into the noise of a football crowd.

Fifty years on, it’s time to rise and shine a light on the secrets buried with this case.

support 'Leave a Light On Inc.' here

view acknowledgements here

It's time to rise - #fightlikejo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.