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The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Join us as a historian investigates history's most fascinating cases of true crime.
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Two actors fled Hollywood for Salt Lake City in 1928. One was bludgeoned to death, and the other would call upon none other than Charlie Chaplin for help. As authorities scrambled to uncover what happened to the murdered Don Solovich, Hollywood’s most famous actors fought to keep their secrets safe. Before long, the tiny Utah town learned that Chaplin had been subpoenaed to testify and prepared themselves for a Hollywood invasion. What exactly did the King of Comedy know about the murder of h...
In the summer of 1914, someone shot through the window of a Long Island doctor’s office, killing a woman inside. When investigators found a dictaphone installed inside the office, they began to suspect the doctor’s jealous wife, who claimed to have been upstairs the evening in question. When the wife’s alibi changed her testimony, Americans had to decide whether to believe the jealous wife or the black maid who contradicted her. Who was the woman in white seen outside the doctor's office just...
Before Jack the Ripper, there was the Servant Girl Annihilator. The man who stalked Austin, Texas, in 1885, preying upon the city’s black servant girls. When he targeted two white women in a shocking Christmas Eve attack, all hell broke loose. Who was this servant girl killer, and was he the same man that terrorized London in 1888?Sources:Galloway, J. R. The Servant Girl Murders: Austin, Texas 1885 (BookLocker, 2010) and the book’s website https://www.servantgirlmurders.com/History Detec...
A widow is found brutally murdered in London's East End in the summer of 1860. Four decades later, Sherlock's creator, Arthur Conan Doyle was still trying and failing to solve the mystery. Can we do better than Sherlock Holmes?Sources:Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Debatable Case of Mrs. Emsley." Strand Magazine. May, 1901."JAMES MULLINS. Killing; murder. 22nd October 1860." Old Bailey Proceedings Online. October, 1860. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18601022-874McKay, Sinclair. The Mile ...
A widow is found brutally murdered in London's East End in the summer of 1860. Four decades later, Sherlock's creator, Arthur Conan Doyle was still trying and failing to solve the mystery. Can we do better than Sherlock Holmes?Sources:Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Debatable Case of Mrs. Emsley." Strand Magazine. May, 1901."JAMES MULLINS. Killing; murder. 22nd October 1860." Old Bailey Proceedings Online. October, 1860. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18601022-874McKay, Sinclair. The Mile ...
A decade-old murder mystery unravels when a secret is discovered in a Los Angeles attic. Even in 1930, the press declared the mystery of Dolly and the Bat Man Slayer as"Los Angeles' most startling murder story."Sources:Hapsis, Emmanuel. "Meet Walburga, the Married Woman Who Hid a Secret Lover in Her Attic for a Decade." KQED. 29 June, 2016. https://www.kqed.org/pop/27643/meet-walburga-the-married-woman-who-hid-a-secret-lover-in-her-attic-for-a-decadeLardinois, Anna. "The Legend of Milwaukee's...
In the summer of 1933, 18-year-old Violette Noziere poisoned her parents before heading out to enjoy the Parisian nightlife. When she was arrested and gave the motive for her crime, Violette scandalized the country.Sources:Breton, Andre. Violette Nozieres (Brussels: Editions Nicolas Flamel, 1933).Maza, Sarah. Violette Noziere: A Story of Murder in 1930s Paris (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).Reynolds, Sian. France Between the Wars: Gender and Politics (London: Routledge, 1996)...
The Dark Strangler prowled the streets of Jazz Age San Francisco. His murder spree spanned nine states, two countries, and three years, resulting in the murder of anywhere from 22 to 31 women and children. This is the story of America’s most prolific–and forgotten–serial killer, Earl Leonard Nelson.Sources:Esau, Alvin. The Gorilla Man Strangler Case (Altona: Friesen Press, 2022).And "Murders." Alvin A. J. Esau. https://www.alvinesau.com/murders.htmlGribben, Mark. "Earle Leonard Nelson: The Da...
In the summer of 1874, little Charley Ross disappeared after taking candy from a stranger. This is the story of America’s first kidnapping and the nationwide manhunt that ended in a deadly shoot-out.Sources:“Charlie Ross - Gustave Blair - Nelson Miller” https://charleyross.com/“Court Identifies ‘Charley Ross’ But Family ‘Disowns’ Him.” Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), May 9, 1939, Page A-5. Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Compa...
In 1897, sausage sales plummeted after the wife of the so-called Sausage King suddenly went missing. Chicago police investigated the factory and a mysterious vat filled with reddish-brown slime. Did the wife run away? Was she ground into sausages? Or perhaps something worse?Sources:Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Company, 1910). "Ghost Supply Thrills for Chicago Flat Dwellers." The Sun, August 31, 1913. p. 14Loerzel, Robert. Alc...
It was nearly midnight in May 1911 when crowds left the theater and gathered at the Brown Palace Hotel barroom. Within minutes, shots rang out and patrons scrambled for cover, but two would not survive. What prompted such a brazen shooting in Denver’s most elegant hotel?Sources:Faulkner, Debra. Ladies of the Brown: A Women’s History of Denver’s Most Elegant Hotel (Arcadia Publishing, 2017).Kreck, Dick. Murder at the Brown Palace: A True Story of Seduction & Betrayal (Golden: Fulcrum Publi...
In the middle of the American Civil War, a horse trader was found in a south Texas river with his head axed in. Following the discovery, the town sheriff arrested an elderly woman by the name of Chipita Rodriguez. Was justice served?Sources:Abernethy, Francis Edward. Legendary Ladies of Texas (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1994).Correa, Tom. “Was Josefa ‘Chipita’ Rodriguez a Patsy?” The American Cowboy Chronicles. September 30, 2021. http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2020/02/...
A killer prowled the streets of London in 1811, 80 years before Jack the Ripper. But in 1811, there were no police to catch the fiend who brutally murdered seven people along Ratcliffe Highway. Would there be a victim eight?Sources:“Chapter 1. The Death of a Linen Draper.” Spitalfields Life. December 7, 2021-December 31, 2021. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/12/07/the-ratcliffe-highway-murders/ Fairburn, John. Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family. (London: J...
The Gouffe Affair had attracted international interest by 1890, with the world wondering if Gabrielle’s defense could be true. Could someone really be hypnotized and compelled to commit murder? Sources:Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hy...
Mysteries collide in 1889 France, as a bailiff goes missing and a bloody trunk is discovered in the countryside. Can Paris’s best detectives solve the case?Sources:Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hypnotism at the Belle Epoque: The path trace...
In 1892, 17-year-old Freda Ward was walking to the river landing when she was attacked with a razor blade and had her throat slit. The ensuing legal battles brought national attention to Memphis, Tennessee, and challenged her society’s views on gender and love.Sources:Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).Astor, Vincent. “Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls’ young love ends tragically, creates national headlines.” Fo...
In March of 1860, sailors found a bloody ghost ship floating in New York’s East River. The discovery sparked a manhunt for a serial killer who had robbed and killed his way around the globe. This episode is the story of the last pirate and the original gangster, Albert Hicks.Sources:Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1927).Cohen, Rich. The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation....
In 1937, Peking police discovered a British schoolgirl at the bottom of an ancient wall with her heart torn from her chest. The investigation unraveled multiple theories that increased tension between locals and the many foreigners living in China at the dawn of World War II.Sources:Cook, Isham. “Midnight in Peking and true crime fiction.” Isham Cook. 11 January, 2020. https://ishamcook.com/2020/01/11/midnight-in-peking-and-true-crime-fiction/Daugelait, Tautvile. “Author Graeme Shepard Disput...
In 1929, the son of oil magnate Edward Doheny was found dead beside his secretary in an apparent murder-suicide. The news exploded onto the papers for three days before the district attorney canceled the inquest and closed the case. When detectives decided there had been foul play, they were silenced, leaving everyone to wonder what truly went on that night at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.Sources:Columbia, David Patrick. “The Continuing Mystery of The Greystone Mansion Murders.” New...
The Blitz in Liverpool, England, unearthed a long-buried cylinder. When a child discovered a corpse inside, it ignited a century-old mystery.Sources:“The Blitz.” The History Place: World War II in Europe. 1998. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/about-blitz.htm“The Body in the Cylinder: How a Discovery During World War Two Revealed an Unsolved Victorian Era Mystery.” Creative History: Little Known Stories from the Past. January 10, 2021. https://creativehistorystories.blogspot.com...
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