True Crime Historian

The Earp Brothers Take A StandAd-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 319 takes us on a journey to one of the most famous gunfights in Old West history, the shoot-out at the OK corral. The first two thirds relates the story from the newspaper accounts of the day, while the third act gives a first-person account from Wyatt Earp himself.Culled from the historic pages of the Tombstone Epitaph, the Arizona Daily Star, the San Francisco Examiner, and other newspapers of the era.More WILD WESTERNSBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

She Conversed With The DevilAd-Free Safe House EditionRecently widowed, eager to date,her family hated of her choice of a mate.So she put poison in their water.What a mean & devilish daughter!YESTERDAY’S NEWS --Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...Episode 317 explores the bizarre tale of Martha Wise who becomes so tired of the scorn of her family and their objection to her dating life after the death of her husband, that she starts putting arsenic in their drinking water. Not everyone dies, so the intense family drama carries over into her sensational trial and damning testimony from a cousin made invalid from the poison and the suicide of a sister-in-law.Culled from the historic pages of the Akron Beacon Journal and other newspapers of the era.More Femmes FataleBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Mysterious Case Of Alma TirtschkeAd-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 315 is the sad tale of a 12 year old Aussie girl who disappeared while running errands for her family. Her body was found naked and outraged the following morning. Based on the testimony of some spurious witnesses, as you shall hear, the crown executed the owner of a wine shop near the alley. But did they get the right man?More Stories From True Crime Pioneer Peter LevinsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Botched Execution of Eva DuganAd-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 131 concerns the murky relationship between the mysterious hired wife, a Tucson rancher, and a young man who came to stay. It’s also about the dogged chase for the fugitive conducted by a determined sheriff, but the scene that strikes me most takes place in the office of a prison warden when they confront the suspected murderer with an unsettling relic of her crime.More Botched ExecutionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Trial Of Vera Stretz She was his dedicated love slave and "office wife," until he pushed her too far.Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 133 is the story of a scholarly young artist whose married fiance tries to take things too far. This story is performed by our late friend Emily Simer Braun, reading the reporting from Alice Cogan, ace reporter for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.More Femmes FataleBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

A Secret Crime Spree Revealed By MurderAd-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 313 is the action-packed story of a pair of bands who met in juvenile jail, and embarked on a short-lived but deadly crime spree through the Wyoming Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania that included two murders, a shooting to kill, several home invasions, and a general disregard and disdain for social order and the rule of law. But they’ll get what’s coming to them.More Capital CrimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

Bannon Buries Bodies In The Haven BarnA family of six goes missing, and the only clue is a badly misspelled letter from a post office box that doesn't exist. Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 312 tells the story of a disappearing farming family in North Dakota, who were said to have gone out West for the health of the wife and mother. But the young man left in charge has a strange story to tell, and it keeps changing. When the truth is revealed, if it is revealed, the community seeks its own justice.More Mob JusticeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Lady Bluebeard Lyda SouthardAd-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 310 is the tale of Lyda Trueblood Meyer Southard, who is credited with killing four husbands, a brother-in-law, and her own baby. Along with a sordid marital history, this tale has the bonus of a daring prison escape and a 15-month flight from justice.Culled from the historic pages of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, the Salt Lake City Telegram, and other newspapers of the era.More Serial KillersBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

Mrs. Creighton’s Cocoa And Egg NogThe epic saga of Mary Frances Creighton and her web of adultery, pedophilia, and murder.Ad-Free Safe House EditionEpisode 307 is the epic tale of the serial killer Mary Frances Quevada Avery Creighton, who is generally credited with three poisonings, although she was acquitted in court on the first two. But 12 years later, she will find herself ensnared in a tangled web of adultery, pedophilia, and murder when she conspires with her live-in lover to poison his wife so that he can marry her teenage daughter. It’s a long and sordid tale, so settle in with your favorite beverage.More Serial KillersBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

Special Triple FeatureEpisodes 306, 309, 311Jerry The WildcatAd-Free Safe House EditionAdapted from True Detective, vol. 56 no. 4, February 1952By Jonas BayerA cowboy rolls into Miles City, Montana, on his way back home to Iowa, and stops in a local cafe to buy a fellow ranch hand a drink. When he's found later, beaten nearly to death in an alley and his roll of bills missing, officials set out to find the fiery red-head he had been talking to in the bar. There was only one clue as to who murdered the drunken cowboy: The fiery red-headed teenager he escorted out of the cafe.More Wild WesternsThree Women In BlackAd-Free Safe House EditionMidnight. A few harsh words. A glint of steel. Murder.More Femmes FataleThe Gatton MurdersAd-Free Safe House EditionWhen the grown Murphy children failed to return home from a dance, a wobbly wagon trail leads to a most horrible scene. Episode 311 explores one of Australia's historic mysteries, the death of a man and his two sisters -- and  an old horse -- found dead in an iso

The Brutal Murder Of Mayme ShermanA True Crime Short Story by Richard O JonesAd-Free Safe House EditionOne of the factors behind my interest in historical true crime is that my hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, seems to have a particularly rich history of crime--murder in particular, but not just murder. I’ve done several local programs about the safecrackers, bandits, and other notorious characters. This short story, “Bacon On The Table,” concerns the third of three “bluebeard” killers in the first decade of the 20th century. The first was the murder of Hannah Knapp by Alfred Knapp in December, 1902. This is the subject of my book, “The First Celebrity Serial Killer.” But even before this crime came to light, Samuel J. Keelor tried to decapitate his wife on Valentine’s Day, 1903. You can read more about that story in my ebook, “The Sleepwalking Slasher.”The following year, just a week after Knapp paid the ultimate penalty for his crime, Charles Victor Sherman commits the horrible crime detailed in this episode.In

The Atrocities Of Albert FishI'D TURN BACK IF I WERE YOU!!!Episode 191 is without a doubt the vilest case you'll ever hear on this program because I don't think I could find a worse one if I tried. There's a lot of evil discussed here: torture, cannibalism, and more. Consider this your trigger warning: I'd turn back if I were you! Or at least put the kids to bed and plug in your ear buds. Keep this between us.Ad-Free EditionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Murder Of Mary PhaganEpisode 183 tells of one of the most infamous cases of an innocent man wrongly accused. When a teenage factory girl is found dead in the basement of an Atlanta pencil manufacturer, blame falls on the mild-mannered Jewish superintendent of the plant, and the jury takes the word of a drunken janitor. It’ll take 70 years for the truth to come out.Ad-Free EditionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The Reily Mattock MurderEpisode 198 is centered on one of my favorite murder tropes, the so-called “eternal triangle,” between the cranky old farmer, his fading wife, and the handsome young farmhand. Yeah, that’s not going to end well, but they might have gotten away with it if they had just put the body across the tracks. It’s all in the details.Culled from the historic pages of the Hamilton Journal-News and other newspapers of the era.Ad-Free Edition

The Real ‘Chicago’ MurdersEpisode 352 explores the two murders that inspired the hit musical “Chicago,” which was based on a play by Maurine Watkins, who did some reporting on both cases as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. I’ll be joined by my colleague Susan Ferman, whose own podcast Catastrophic Calamities, will premiere next week on the Pulpular Media network. Susan will read about the case of Beulah Annan, who became Roxy Hart on stage. I will read the case of Belva Gaertner, who became Velma Kelly.Culled from the historic pages of the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and other newspapers of the era.This episode includes a reference to a fellow murderess Sabela Nitti, whose story you can hear about in True Crime Historian 230, The Ugly Duckling Murderess.

The Trial Of Rattlesnake James, The Red-Headed BluebeardEpisode 192 gets a bit epic, but it’s the story that keeps on giving, with two botched murders and moral charges to boot, and things go from crazy to crazier when they bring a pair of rattlers named Lethal and Lightning into the courtroom.

A Litany of HorrorEpisode 12 is a reading of the chilling confession of Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, one of the most remarkable serial killers in American History. The whole nation was shocked and outraged in the waning years of the nineteenth century by the gruesome deeds of one Herman Mudgett, the arch fiend who took on the pseudonym H.H. Holmes as he prepared his famous "Castle of Death" in downtown Chicago. He was arrested for an insurance fraud in November 1894, but his string of murders, perhaps 200 in all, were soon revealed. He was convicted of one capital crime in Philadelphia, and while he awaited execution, he penned a confession detailing 27 murders that was published in newspapers across the country. He would recant this confession before he hanged, but really, you can't make this stuff up.Ad free Patreon edition with subscription

A Terrible Reign of MurderAbout the murders that inspired Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon"Episode 214 digs deep into the files of the FBI and one of its early successful investigations during the tenure of J.Edgar Hoover, when the Bureau of Investigations looked into the murder of as many as 60 to 70 Osage Indians. The file includes a report by Agent Frank Smith as well as statements by informants who helped break the conspiracy. True Crime Historian welcomes guest reader Susan Ferman as Katherine Cole, one of these informants.

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...The Gillooly/Lannon AffrayEpisode 443 tells the story of the first officer to be killed in the line of duty in Kokomo, Indiana. But was the violent action against him provoked, or spurred on by a notorious local gang? The question divided the growing Indiana town.Culled from the historic pages of the Kokomo Saturday Tribune, the 1882 History of Howard County, and Jackson Morrow’s 1909 History of Howard County.We offer a special thanks to the staff at the Howard County Library’s genealogy room and listener Anthony R Jones, no relation, who saw the mobile production unit outside that library, where I was engaged in research on another matter. After I got his message telling me to look into the Mollihan gang, I dug around and came up with this episode.Residents of the Safe House can take a deeper dive into Kokomo’s criminal past in the case file posted at www.p

SERIAL KILLER CLIPSA reading of Yesterday’s News exploring one of History’s most prolific murderers. The Mysteries Of Belle Gunness Episode 308 examines the strange story of Belle Gunness, which came to light only after her house burned down with her body presumably inside and a dozen or so bodies buried in the yard. There’s a lot of conjecture and debate about this case still going on today. Culled from the historic pages of the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and other newspapers of the era. A creation Of Pulpular Media Can’t wait for the next episode to drop? Download the new podcast app Himalaya and get all new episodes a day early, and drop a buck in the tip jar for True Crime Historian. Support your favorite podcaster at www.patreon.com/truecrimehistorian. Just a dollar a month reserves your bunk at the safe house and access to exclusive content and whatever personal services you require. *** Opening theme by Nico Vitesse. Some music and sound effects licensed from podcastmusic.com. Closin