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PODCAST

True Crime Historian

Richard O Jones

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalismBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

true crime documentary

All Episodes

81:20

A Parasite's Progress

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/13

Episode 280 is a reading of "The Black Negligee Murder" By Frederic HolmesAdapted from True Detective, v.43 no.1Ad-Free Safe House EditionThere’s a lot going on in this story. The seams show in the author’s reporting as he occasionally allows glimpses into his process, but at the same time, he makes it seem like he’s telling story from the point of view of the bad guy for most of the first two thirds of the narrative. The really cool nerdy part for me as a writer and a fan of pulp, is that you can

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60:41

When Justice Fails

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/11

Episode 252 tells two stories of when the wheels of justice had a blow-out and people were convicted of crimes they didn't commit.Ad-Free Safe House Edition"Uncle Amos Dreams a Dream," by Edmund Pearson, the story of two brothers accused of murder after the discovery of two clipped toenails."Twenty-Three Years Skidoo: What Was Justice In This Case," by Peter Levins, about how a deathbed confession made liars out of a whole bunch of witnesses and law enforcement officials.More stories from Edmund

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71:22

Storming The Santa Clara County Jail

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/09

The Kidnapping Of Brooke L. Hart Ad Free Safe House EditionMob rule threatens the city of San Jose, California in Episode 279 when the scion of a beloved wealthy family, the owners of the town’s biggest department store, is kidnapped by a pair of opportunistic thugs. When the young man’s body is recovered from the waters of the San Francisco Bay, the crowd gathers around the Santa Clara County jail, and the governor of California lets popular justice take its course.More stories of Mobs &

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110:38

The Decapitated Captain

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/07

The Tri-State Head and Hands Murder PlotThe cast of characters in Episode 147 includes a previously convicted murderer who works as a driver and a “sort of secretary” for an eccentric former opera singer, three thugs that he met in prison, and a fire captain who often bragged of his success in the stock market after his retirement, amassing a fortune of more than $2 million (in today’s money). The inept plot to murder for his papers covers three states and a nationwide manhunt.Ad-Free EditionMore

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67:21

The Case Of The Smoking Corpse

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/05

Episode 233."The Case Of The Smoking Corpse" By Peter Levins. When a young man stumbles upon a pair of corpses in a park, police not only solve a murder, but break up a caper to rid all of the banks in Indianapolis of their cash. And it all starts with a clue from a horseshoe."A Clue At The Kitchen Window: A Strangulation in Apartment 16" By Quincy Carlton. A young man discovers a young girl he just picked up dead in her apartment. He has an alibi and there are many leads to follow, but the young

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80:57

Many Marriages, Many Murders

True Crime Historian ·

2024/11/02

The Approximately 55 Wives of Johann HochEpisode 148 tells the unlikely story of a German immigrant who managed to wed dozens of women, mostly widows that he met through personal ads in German newspapers in several American cities. Soon as he could get his hands on their money, he’d run. Sometimes, his cons wouldn’t work, and he’d resort to murder.Theme Music by Dave Sams “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from the Peer Gynt Suite by The Musopen Orchestra Ad Free EditionMore Bluebeard StoriesBecome

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36:19

The Flaming Haystack Murder

True Crime Historian ·

2024/10/31

Episode 278Celibate Farmer Ruins The RomanceSo what happens when a bachelor farmer is determined that his 52-year-old sister stay a spinster and she falls in love with the farm hand? Nothing good, you can bet on that, especially when the bachelor farmer discovers the suitor slinking around his house. I found this story interesting not only for the unusual disposal of the body, but also for the colorful people with names that sound like they came from a Saturday Night Live sketch or a Coen Brothers

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76:59

The Man Who Owned Manhattan

True Crime Historian ·

2024/10/29

Episode 163: Magazine #13"The Man Who Owned Manhattan" is the story of a determined private detective who sets out to solve one of the classic con game and match wits with "the man with an educated laugh.""Love And Money: Two Motives," a tale from the 1870s about a blackmail scheme that goes way over the top."Mister Bravo's Burgandy" by Edmund Pearson is the scandalous tale of a widow, her doctor, her bosom companion, and her beleaguered second husband.Ad Free EditionBecome a supporter of this

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59:13

Sentenced To DIe

True Crime Historian ·

2024/10/22

Episode 162 concerns a large blond man claiming to be a good Samaritan who brings a badly-beaten man into a hospital. It sparks an intricate game of cat-and-mouse that crosses several states and one international border.Bonus Stories For Patreon Subscribers:"No Judge Or Jury," by Peter Levins, considers the case of a missing family. When the Haven family moves West for the mother's health, they seem to have left their farm in good hands, but where exactly did they go?"The Kahuna Murder Suicide"

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26:27

The Pollock Diamond Robbery

True Crime Historian ·

2024/10/14

From The Archives Of The PinkertonsEpisode 61 begins with a daring train robbery and tells the story of how one of America's famed detectives, the esteemed William Pinkerton, solves a series of seemingly unrelated robberies while tracking the lone bandit down. The exciting tale is told by Cleveland Moffat, a New York journalist who wrote mystery stories on the side, and in 1905 syndicated a series of articles about the exploits of the Pinkerton Detectives that was published in newspapers across the

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53:47

The Lincoln Tomb Raiders

True Crime Historian ·

2024/10/07

Captain Tyrell's Stories Of The Secret ServiceEpisode 59 turns again to the writing of Captain Patrick D. Tyrell, a former investigator for the Secret Service, who set down many of his adventures for a syndicated newspaper feature that ran in 1905. This is an exciting story about two related investigations. After Tyrell and his men track down some of the Midwest's most notorious counterfeiters, they stumble upon a plot to steal the corpse of Abraham Lincoln by some of the scoundrels in an attempt to

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63:30

The Polish Ladies’ Poison Plot

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/25

The Many True Crimes of Tillie Klimek and Nellie Koulik Episode 100, a man goes to a doctor because he’s not feeling well and the doctor says, “Sounds like arsenic poisoning,” and suddenly there are four women in jail who discovered that arsenic is more effective in getting rid of a husband than divorce. The ringleader of them all, however, not only poisoned her husband, but just about anybody who crossed her, including an annoying dog. Before it was through, more than 20 deaths would be attributed

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67:05

Pretty Hostess Slain In Cemetery

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/23

The Peoria Hallmark Sex MurderEpisode 182 tells the story of a young sex fiend, whose aggressive pursuit of his nefarious goals ends up with a body in a ditch. Police find a diary he kept of his exploits, used in court as evidence... FOR THE DEFENSE!Ad-Free Edition Purchase for $3 or Listen Ad-Free With SubscriptionIncluded in the collection Capital CrimesIncluded in the collection Courtroom ShenanigansBecome a supporter of this podcast:

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71:42

The Case Of The Tell-Tale Love Letters

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/21

The Murder Of Percy Thompson By His Wife’s Young LoverFor Episode 149 we make a journey to England in the 1920s and hear about the torrid affair between a successful milliner, but unhappy wife, and a young sailor eight years her junior. She writes saucy letters to his ports of call while he’s away that seem to indicate a plan for murdering her husband. She says she was role-playing, just showing how much she loved him. He had a different interpretation.Patreon Purchase for $3 or Listen Ad-Free With

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64:47

A Sophisticated Scoundrel

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/19

The End Of Gordon Fawcett Hamby Episode 277 is a fascinating portrait of a cold-blooded psychopath and sociopath, an erudite Canadian seaman who allegedly traveled the world committing the most dastardly robberies. But when he goes too far and murders a friend, his conscience finally gets to him and his eight year career comes to a crashing halt and the light of day.Culled from the historic pages of the New York Herald and other newspapers of the era.Patreon Ad-Free EditionPurchase for $3 or Listen

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107:18

The Miser's Poke Of Gold

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/17

The Travels of Clara Elizabeth SkarinEpisode 204 tells the interesting tale of a young woman who shoots her aged benefactor and loots his trunk for a poke full of gold, then goes on a spending spree to update her wardrobe. Was it self-defense (as she would claim eight months later when police finally catch up with her)? Or premeditated? That's the question.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

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59:55

Alligator Alibi

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/13

Pulp NonfictionA celebration of the pioneers of true crimeIn a remote part of Florida in the 1920s, a brother and sister in business together running a curio shop and gas station are found brutally murdered. Was it a robbery gone awry? Or were there more sinister forces at work? Detectives on the case soon dig up some telling secrets.Adapted from True Detective, v. 43, no. 2, May 1945.Ad-Free EditionBuy this episode!More Prison Breaks!Become a supporter of this podcast:

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94:18

The Baldwin Hills Babes In The Woods Murders

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/11

A Crossing Guard ConfessesEpisode 150 is the brutal tale of one of the most fiendish murders on record in California (or anywhere else for that matter) that a dogged prosecutor pins on the town’s simple-crossing guard. The man confesses four times, then retracts it at the trial. I think maybe they got the wrong maniac. What do you think?Ad-Free EditionMore episodes about kidnappingsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

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131:02

The Kidnapped Canadian Preemie

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/09

Baby Irene & Her Two MothersEpisode 208 seems to start out like a murder case: An elderly man marries a woman 40 years younger and suddenly dies three months later under suspicious circumstances. But it turns out to be something much more complicated-even an international incident!-the macguffin being a tiny baby girl. The final decision on this case is dramatically made by the famous Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who (incidentally) was born right down the road from me.Ad-Free EditionMore

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71:47

The Wyoming Valley American Tragedy

True Crime Historian ·

2024/09/06

Pregnant Church Worker Found Dead In Harvey’s LakeAd Free Safe House Late EditionIf the tropes in Episode 275 sound a bit like Episode 96, “The Body In Big Moose Lake,” the familiarity was not lost on the people of the day, either. The 1906 murder of Grace Brown in Big Moose Lake inspired novelist Theodore Dreiser to write “An American Tragedy,” which became an instant classic when it was published in 1925. The story you are about to hear struck such a familiar chord that the press made many

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347 results

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