True Crime Historian

Munich, GermanyFebruary 24, 1920A failed painter and Army intelligence operative named Adolf Hitler stood before a packed house at Munich's Hofbräuhaus to announce a new political program. The event, which nearly erupted in a riot, marked the public christening of what would soon be called the Nazi Party.The episode reports from the oldest and most famous beer hall in the city on the chaotic night Hitler read the twenty-five points of the party’s platform—a volatile blend of nationalist fury, populist promises, and racial hatred. The program was born from the wreckage of the German Empire, the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles, and the "stab-in-the-back" legend that blamed socialists and Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I. The twenty-five points, though later abandoned in practice, were declared "permanent and unalterable," forming the original foundation for the darkest chapter in human history.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/supp

The Redpath Mansion MysterJump to the Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 465, a classic locked-room mystery, takes place in the summer of 1901, when two bodies are discovered inside a mansion in Montreal’s exclusive Golden Square Mile. Ada Maria Mills Redpath and her son, Clifford, are dead. Authorities quickly ruled it a tragic murder-suicide, blaming a seizure. But the evidence was immediately buried—literally—as the family arranged a funeral within 48 hours. Hear more stories about Unsolved MysteriesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forg

What Happened In The Guttenberg Woods Jump to the AD-FREE Safe House EditionEpisode 97 is another story of a honeymoon trip gone awry, but it was a marriage likely doomed from the start. For one thing, Mina Muller and Martin Kettler -- if that’s his real name -- were both already married. With children. But they still visit the minister and, well, you know it’s not gonna end well.Hear More Episodes About LOVE TRIANGLES GONE AWRYBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everyt

Rouen, FranceFebruary 21, 1431 At eight o'clock on a frozen Wednesday morning, a nineteen-year-old peasant girl in leg irons shuffled into the Chapel Royal of Rouen Castle to face forty-two robed clerics who had already decided her fate. Two years earlier, Joan of Arc had heard the voice of the Archangel Michael in her father's garden. She went on to break the siege of Orléans, rout the English across the Loire Valley, and crown a king at Reims. Now she was chained to a wooden block in an English military prison, guarded day and night by soldiers, and charged with heresy, witchcraft, and the unforgivable crime of being a teenage girl who had changed the course of a war. The king she crowned never lifted a finger to save her. This is the story of the most infamous trial in medieval history.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to ov

There were ghosts at the San Quentin gallows. That's what the hangman saw. San QuentinExecutioner Amos Lunt Jump to Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 95 explores a different point of view of capital punishment, a behind the scenes look at the gallows of San Quentin Prison from the hangman’s point of view. One of the minor characters in Episode 84 “The Belle in the Belfry” was the hangman, Amos Lunt, who seemed quite shaken by the event and was reported as “seeing spooks”. That was enough to get me to look a little deeper into Amos Lunt and his descent into madness. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check ou

True Tales From The Old WestJump to the AD-FREE Safe House EditionEpisode 63 tells the story of the scoundrel Charley Bowles who took the moniker Black Bart from a villain in a dime novel, but I think he used it ironically because it didn’t really fit his gentlemanly style. He only robbed coaches carrying treasure belonging to the Wells Fargo Company, apparently in revenge for a mining dispute in Nevada. When he left his doggerel poetry at the scene of the crime, he would sign it “Black Bart PO8” spelling poet with a numeral, text-message style long before the internet, way ahead of his time.Culled from the historic pages of the Washington Evening Star, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other newspapers of the era.Hear More True Crime Stories From THE WILD WESTBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from t

Sing Sing PrisonFebruary 18, 1916 On September 5th, 1913, two boys fishing off a dock in Weehawken, New Jersey, hauled up a bundle wrapped in oilcloth and weighted with stone. Inside was the upper torso of a young woman. No head. No identification. What followed was one of the most sensational murder investigations in New York City history — a trail of pillowcase tags, bloodstained walls, and forged documents that led detectives from a bare apartment on Bradhurst Avenue to the rectory door of a Catholic church in Harlem. The man they arrested at half past eleven that night was Father Hans Schmidt, a German-born priest with a secret wife, a counterfeiting operation, and a past that stretched across two continents and an unknown number of graves. On February 18th, 1916, Schmidt was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison. He remains the only Catholic priest ever executed in the United States. This is his story.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.Yo

Rome, ItalyFebruary 17, 1600Rome, the day after Ash Wednesday. A naked man rides a mule through the streets toward the Campo de' Fiori, a leather bridle strapped across his mouth to keep him from shouting heresies to the crowd. Giordano Bruno — philosopher, former Dominican friar, and the man who told the Roman Inquisition that the universe was infinite — is about to be burned alive at the stake for refusing to take it back.Bruno spent sixteen years as a wandering scholar across Europe, dined with kings, debated at Oxford, and proposed ideas about distant suns and alien worlds that wouldn't be proven for four centuries. He also spent seven years in a Roman prison cell, where the Church begged him to recant. He wouldn't.This is the story of the man who chose the fire over the silence.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400

Nazis Invade AmericaEpisode 464Jump to Ad-Free Safe House EditionIn the summer of 1942, the war was supposed to be a distant conflict. But that illusion shattered when German U-boats, the predators of Operation Drumbeat, brought the fight to the American home front, sinking ships within sight of Long Island. This episode dives into the extraordinary story of Operation Pastorius, Hitler’s audacious plan to cripple the “Arsenal of Democracy.”Eight German agents—all fluent in English and trained in sabotage—landed on American beaches carrying a staggering $175,000 in cash and their most terrifying weapon: the disguised coal torpedo. Their mission: to blow up aluminum plants, railways, and bridges, and sow terror across the nation.The entire operation, however, pivoted on a foggy beach encounter with an unarmed 21-year-old Coast Guardsman, John Cullen, and the stunning betrayal of the mission's leader, George John Dasch. His self-surrender to the FBI exposed the entire plot, leading to a frantic manhunt and the c

Miami, FloridaFebruary 15, 1933A warm Wednesday evening in Bayfront Park. President-elect Franklin Roosevelt has just finished a short speech from the back of an open touring car when a five-foot-one Italian bricklayer named Giuseppe Zangara climbs onto a wobbly folding chair, pulls a thirty-two caliber revolver, and fires five shots into the crowd. Roosevelt is untouched. But Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who had just stepped away from the president-elect's car, takes a bullet to the lung. He will be dead in nineteen days. Zangara will follow him to the grave thirteen days after that — one of the fastest trips from crime to electric chair in American history. The official story is a madman and bad aim. But in Chicago, where the mayor's own police bodyguards had recently tried to assassinate the head of the Capone organization, not everybody was buying it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Sa

Strasbourg, AlsaceFebruary 14, 1349Six hundred years before Al Capone made Valentine's Day synonymous with bloodshed in Chicago, the citizens of Strasbourg, in the German Empire, committed a massacre that dwarfed it in scale and savagery. On February 14, 1349, as many as two thousand Jewish men, women, and children were marched to the Jewish cemetery and burned alive on a wooden platform — accused of poisoning the wells and conjuring the Black Death. The plague hadn't even reached the city yet. Five days earlier, a guild revolt had overthrown the city government that had been protecting the Jewish community. The new regime's first act was mass arrest. Its second was mass murder. And when the ashes cooled, the new council divided the dead's property among themselves and declared all debts owed to Jewish lenders void. The motive was the same as it always is. Money. Power. And someone to blame.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay m

The Crimes of Winona Green FreemanJump to the Ad-Free Safe Huse EditionEpisode 52 is a feature report from the St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter Frederick H. Brennan on a visit to the Little Rock, Arkansas, jail to visit with accused double murderess Winona Green. I am particularly taken by Brennan’s description of Mrs. Green’s hold on the local law enforcement and press. In 1928, Brennan would be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in another murder case. In the prologue, you hear about her final murder conviction as Winnie Ola Freeman, and after the Brennan piece you’ll hear about two other accusations of murder, which would bring her count up to five and the nagging feeling that there might have been more. Hear More Stories About FEMME FATALESBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the

Dark History TodayThe Murder of Clayton Dale ElkinsLawton, OklahomaFebruary 12, 1950Two old friends from Seminole — Clayton Dale Elkins and James Albert Collier Jr. — reconnect over bootleg whiskey at the Big 6 bar on a Saturday afternoon. That night, with their wives in tow, the drinking continues through two half-pints of illegal liquor, a stop at Ruth's Drive-In, and a long evening that splits the couples into separate rooms. When Elkins tells Collier's wife something that suggests her husband has been unfaithful, the night unravels fast. Tears, accusations, and a demand to leave escalate into a confrontation that ends with Collier retrieving a shotgun. At 1:15 a.m. on February 12th, the gun discharges into Elkins' abdomen. He dies four hours later. Collier claims accidental discharge during a scuffle. The jury disagrees, convicting him of first-degree manslaughter and sentencing him to thirty years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true

King Ben and the Curse of the House of DavidJump to the Ad-Free Safe House EditionIn Episode 53 we explore portions of a five-part investigative expose the Detroit Free Press published on the cult House of David, which operated a commune near Benton Harbor Michigan in the 1920s. The leader of the cult was Benjamin Franklin Purnell, in these articles confronted with allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct among young members of his flock. Much of the expose, the parts that we’ll be examining, are based on a sworn deposition by one of these young ladies. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTRO

Prescott, Arizona TerritoryFebruary 10, 1886In 1881, the Arizona Territory was rocked by the chilling crimes of Dennis Dilda, a man whose outward appearance as a hardworking settler masked a predatory nature. Settling near Prescott with his wife and children, Dilda’s descent into infamy began with the disappearance of several travelers. Suspicion peaked when Deputy Sheriff James Bozarth went missing after visiting Dilda’s ranch to investigate a theft.A subsequent search of the property revealed a gruesome scene: Bozarth's body was discovered buried beneath the floor of Dilda's cabin. Further investigation unearthed more victims on the grounds, cementing Dilda’s reputation as one of the frontier’s most cold-blooded killers. His capture led to a swift trial and a public execution in 1886. Dilda’s story remains a haunting chapter of Wild West history, serving as a grim reminder that the most dangerous outlaws weren't always found on the open trail—sometimes, they were your neighbors.Become a supporter of this po

The Chicago Wynekoop ScandalJump to Ad-Free Safe House EditionIn November 1933, Chicago undertaker Thomas Ahern was summoned to the basement surgery of Dr. Alice Lindsay Wynekoop, a respected 62-year-old physician. There he discovered her daughter-in-law Rheta, 22, face-down on the operating table with a bullet in her back—and immediately called police instead.Dr. Wynekoop initially blamed an intruder, but investigators uncovered a damning picture: a family fortune reduced to twenty-six dollars, insurance policies taken out on Rheta just ten days before her death, and a ne'er-do-well son whose philandering his mother had enabled.After sixty hours of interrogation, Dr. Wynekoop confessed—then recanted, claiming she was protecting Earle.Convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years, the feminist pioneer who once championed women's suffrage maintained her innocence until her death in 1955.Hear More Stories About FALLS FROM GRACE!!!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-his

Fotheringhay Castle. Northamptonshire, England.February 8, 1587.The Great Hall has been transformed into a theater of death. A scaffold, two feet high and covered in black cloth, stands in the center. A fire crackles in the hearth, fighting the winter chill, but it does little to warm the blood of the three hundred spectators crowded into the room.They are waiting for a woman who has been a prisoner for nineteen years. A woman who was Queen of France at sixteen, Queen of Scotland at birth, and who—according to the government of Elizabeth I—is now a condemned traitor.When she enters the hall, she doesn't look like a criminal. She walks with a limp, yes, ravaged by rheumatism, but her head is high. She wears black satin over velvet, a long white veil flowing to the ground, and a rosary hangs from her waist. She looks every inch the anointed sovereign.But in less than an hour, the illusion of majesty will be shattered by the clumsy swing of an axe. This isn’t just a political execution; it is the first time in h

The Murder Of Joseph SmithJump To The Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 466 is the story of John C. Elliott, the Ohio woodcutter turned political assassin who rode 500 miles to execute a prophet. Hiding as a schoolmaster, Elliott was arrested and set free by Joseph Smith himself. Discover the man history forgot.Hear More Stories About CAPERS AND CONSPIRACIESBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popul

Madge Oberholtzer Kills The KlanJump to the Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 461 takes us to 1925, when Indiana Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon D.C. Stevenson kidnapped and assaulted Madge Oberholtzer, who died from poison she took to escape him. Her "dying declaration" was the key evidence. His murder conviction, based on "proximate cause," shattered the Klan’s immense political power in Indiana and ended the careers of prominent politicians, including a governor.More episodes about FALLS FROM GRACE!!!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotte

The Condemnation Of Mary Ann CottonJump to the Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 462 is the tale of the wicked Mary Ann Cotton, one of Victorian Britain's most prolific serial killers, exploiting the era's poverty and the new industrial life insurance market for financial gain. Using arsenic, her crimes were camouflaged by high mortality rates, as symptoms mimicked "gastric fever."Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!For brand-new tales in the old clothes from