A True Crime History Podcast
At the close of the nineteenth century, serial killer Joseph Vacher terrorized the French countryside for years, eluding capture while murdering more victims than Jack the Ripper. His sprawling crime
Continue readingThe Killer of Little Shepherds w/ Douglas Starr
On April 13, 1788, outrage erupted in New York City when word spread that students from the local medical school were stealing corpses from nearby graveyards, at the direction of
Among the many murder cases handled by South Carolina attorney Dick Harpootlian, one continues to stand apart: the prosecution of Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins. A serial killer and sexual predator,
Continue readingSerial Killer Pee Wee Gaskins w/ Dick Harpootlian
In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its gruesome mutilations led to a firestorm of
Continue readingThe Black Dahlia & the Prairie Heiress Murders: One Killer? w/ Eli Frankel
On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and
Continue reading417: The Shipwreck of the Mignonette w/ Adam Cohen
In 1942, two Abwehr German agents, including Johannes Eppler, slipped into Cairo to gather intelligence for Rommel’s desert campaign, getting help from local allies like the famous dancer Hekmet Fahmy
Continue readingNazi Germany’s Bungled Operation Condor w/ Gavin Whitehead
November 10, 2025, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald during a vicious Lake Superior storm. All 29 crew members were lost, a tragedy
Continue readingThe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald w/ John U. Bacon
In the winter of 1924-1925, quiet Medina County, Ohio, was shaken to its core. Martha Wise, an ordinary farm widow with an extraordinary obsession, slipped arsenic into her family’s food
This is from the podcast Minnesota’s Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold. My guest is Steven J. Harper, author of Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster’s Story. His father, Jim Harper, was
In the early hours on a rainy autumn night in 1955, on a lavish country estate in Oyster Bay Cove, esteemed New York socialite Ann Woodward fired both barrels of
Continue readingThe Killing of William Woodward w/ Jerry Aylward