Loading...

PODCAST

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast

Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins

Foggy gaslit streets. A quiet courtroom. And crimes that history tried to bury.Foul Play is a historical true crime podcast that investigates the most chilling murder cases from the 1800s and early 1900s across the United States and the United Kingdom. Hosted by investigative crime journalists Shane Waters — who pioneered crime podcasting in 2008 — and Wendy Cee, each season unravels one complete criminal case through original research, court records, and primary source material.This isn't

true crime

All Episodes

35:22

Kansas and Virginia: Badges, Betrayal, and Frontier...

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/10/06

Season 40: America's 250th Anniversary — fifty states, fifty crimes, two hundred and fifty years. This double--feature episode covers Kansas and Virginia.A city marshal with a gold-engraved Winchester and a secret past as a wanted killer. A mountain doctor whopreached Sunday sermons and planned a massacre on a mountain road. Two men who wore badges. Twocommunities that trusted them. Two moments when the authority collapsed and the man underneath it wasexposed. This is the story of Henry Newton

en

34:23

Rhode Island & North Dakota: Who Killed the King?

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/09/22

Season 40: America's 250th Anniversary -- 50 states, 25 double-feature episodes. This is Episode 13, coveringRhode Island and North Dakota with two true crime cases from the 1880s and 1890s that circle the samequestion: who do you believe when the dead cannot speak?October 1885. A wealthy Black businessman in Newport, Rhode Island, is found dead at his kitchen table -- twogunshot wounds, unchewed bread still in his mouth. The city calls it suicide before the day is over. Eight yearslater, a

en

35:02

Hawaii and Louisiana: The Plantation's Shadow, 1887-1889

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/09/15

This episode is part of Season 40: America's 250th Anniversary -- 50 states, 25 double-feature episodesexploring the cases that shaped American history from every corner of the country.Hawaii, 1889. A Japanese shopkeeper is lynched from a telephone pole on the main street of Honoka'a forspeaking English on behalf of plantation workers. Louisiana, 1887. Ten thousand sugar cane workers strike for cashwages instead of scrip -- and armed paramilitaries sweep through residential streets at dawn,

en

34:55

Wyoming and New York: Children in the Dock, 1892

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/09/08

Season 40: America's 250th Anniversary — fifty true crime stories from fifty states. Wyoming, 1892. A fiftee-n-year-old orphan train rider murders two young men in a boxcar and becomes the first person executed bythe state. New York, 1906. A seventeen-year-old immigrant kills the uncle who abused her and walks free froma packed Manhattan courtroom. Two teenagers. Two states. Two verdicts that split the question of whether achild's history belongs to them or to the law.In this historical true

en

54:48

The Keepers, Where Are They Now

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/06/17

Shane Waters and Gemma Hoskins close out their reunion by going down the list of the people who appeared in the Netflix documentary The Keepers, where they are today, who is still fighting, who has found peace, and who the world has lost. It is a warm, reflective conversation about the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, the young School Sister of Notre Dame who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, and about the community of survivors,

en

50:49

The Suspects and the Silence

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/06/11

Shane Waters and Gemma Hoskins continue their first sit-down in over a year, working through the second half of the questions listeners submitted through the show's Facebook community. This is the follow-up to "The Mary Statue and Unanswered Questions, " a wide-ranging conversation about the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik in Baltimore, Maryland. Known to millions through the Netflix documentary The Keepers, Gemma has spent more than a decade investigating what

en

36:37

California & Alabama: When the Mob Decided to Be the Law

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/06/02

This episode contains descriptions of murder, mob violence, historical racial violence, and the execution of a convicted killer. If you need to skip this content, advance past the 18:00 mark. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 40: Fifty states, fifty forgotten crimes, America's 250th year. Episode 9 covers California and Alabama — two cases, two communities that looked at the legal system and reached for something uglier. October 10, 1890. A woman named

en

40:29

New Hampshire & Colorado: Two Forgotten Murders,...

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/05/26

This episode contains discussions of murder, execution, racial violence, and a botched public hanging. If you need to skip any section, the chapter markers below will help you find your way around. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 40 of Foul Play covers America's forgotten crimes — fifty states, 250 years, and the stories that slipped out of the history books. Episode 8 closes out the season with a double portrait. One case from New Hampshire. One from

en

82:03

Who Killed Sister Cathy, The Mary Statue and...

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/05/19

Shane Waters and Gemma Hoskins sit down together for the first time in over a year for a wide-ranging conversation about the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik in Baltimore, Maryland. Known to millions through the Netflix documentary The Keepers, Gemma has spent more than a decade investigating what happened to Sister Cathy, the young School Sister of Notre Dame who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School. She was found dead two months after her disappearance. This

en

36:48

Massachusetts & Tennessee: Two Axe Murders, 1893 & 1897

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/05/19

This episode contains detailed descriptions of violent death, including axe murders and decapitation. If you need to skip this content, advance to the chapter markers below. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 40 of Foul Play marks America's 250th anniversary with a series of Twin Portraits — two true crimes from two different states, set in the same decade, examined side by side. This week: two axe murders from the 1890s, one in Massachusetts, one in

en

31:40

Texas & Philadelphia: When Justice Wore a Price Tag

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/05/12

This episode contains discussions of murder, arsenic poisoning, the deaths of children, and historical criminal trials. Ifyou need to skip any portion, advance past that segment using your chapter markers. This EpisodeSeason 40 of Foul Play marks America's 250th anniversary by examining two cases that expose how the justice system treated killers differently based on wealth, gender, and class. This week: a double feature — one case from Texas, one from Pennsylvania, eleven years apart, and both

en

27:47

Nevada & Georgia : Women on the Gallows, 1873-1890

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/05/05

Historical SignificanceIn Georgia, a Webster County posse pursued Susan and Enoch one hundred twenty-five miles to Coffee County, Alabama. The grand jury indicted both on May 27, 1872 — twenty-three days after the murder. Enoch's trial lasted a single day; the jury deliberated for three minutes. Both were sentenced to death on May 30. Twenty-six days from murder to death sentence. The Georgia Supreme Court denied Susan's appeal in *Eberhart v. State* 47 Ga. 598 (1873), with Justice H.K

en

35:22

Missouri & North Carolina : Love Songs and Death

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/04/28

July 1877. A dirt road in rural Missouri. A fifty-eight-year-old woman named Martha Parrish is shot dead by her own son-in-law while trying to rescue her daughter from an abusive marriage. Fifteen years later and five hundred miles east, an eighteen-year-old maid named Ellen Smith is shot behind a luxury hotel in Winston, North Carolina — and someone writes a song about it. Two historical murders. Two women killed by men who claimed to love someone close to them. One ended in a double coffin. The

en

28:43

Ohio & Washington: Justice Buried for a Century

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/04/21

Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of gun violence, intimate partner violence, poisoning, and discussions of coercive control in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Crisis resources are listed at the end of these notes.In this episode of Foul Play, Shane and Wendy examine two cases from the American Gilded Age connected by the same institutional failure: not a lack of evidence, but a refusal to act on it. The Ashtabula bridge disaster killed 92 people and led to the silencing

en

29:00

Idaho & Alaska: Gold Fever and the Men Who Killed for It

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/04/14

Billy Wimbish - was born around 1859. A Black man who made his life in the Alaska Interior, Wimbish earned respect among the miners of the Fairbanks district. In 1906, he served as lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against mine owner D.H. Cascaden on Cleary Creek. Judge James Wickersham ruled in the miners' favor, finding Cascaden liable for all wages owed. That legal victory, won in Alaska Territory as a Black man against a white mine owner, defined the kind of man Wimbish was.Lloyd Magruder - was

en

29:57

Maryland & Indiana: Forbidden Desires, 1878-1889

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/04/07

Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of gun violence, intimate partner violence, poisoning, and discussions of coercive control in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Crisis resources are listed at the end of these notes.Historical ContextIn Indiana, public pressure forced an exhumation four months after Hattie's death. Organs shipped to Chicago forchemical analysis revealed large quantities of strychnine. Pettit was arrested and charged with murder. The trial in

en

21:11

S39E05 - Four Suspects, No Justice

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/03/31

Content WarningThis episode contains discussions of murder, suicide, and Victorian scandal. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39 Finale: The Balham Mystery. The jury deliberated for three hours. Their verdict would haunt this case for one hundred and fifty years: "Willful murder by person or persons unknown."Murder--but no murderer. Four suspects. Four possible killers. And no way to know which one poisoned Charles Bravo.The VictimCharles Bravo died on

en

20:34

S39E04 - The Longest Inquest

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/03/24

Content WarningThis episode contains discussions of adultery, abortion, and Victorian scandal. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39: The Balham Mystery. For twenty-three days, the secrets of The Priory were stripped bare in the longest inquest in English legal history. Forty witnesses. Thousands of pages of testimony. Florence Bravo finally forced to admit her affair. Dr. Gully humiliated on the stand.Every scandal exposed. And still no murderer named.The

en

18:40

S39E03 - Three Days of Dying

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/03/17

Content WarningThis episode contains detailed descriptions of poisoning and prolonged death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39: The Balham Mystery. For seventy-two hours, Charles Bravo lay dying at The Priory while doctors—including Queen Victoria's own physician—watched helplessly. He suffered. He convulsed. He said almost nothing about who poisoned him.One woman claims she heard a confession. No one else heard a word. Was it truth, or a convenient lie

en

24:10

Balham: The Fatal Night at The Priory

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/03/10

Content WarningThis episode contains discussions of poisoning and death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39: The Balham Mystery. April 1876—a young barrister collapses in agony minutes after retiring to bed. For three days, Charles Bravo suffers while doctors, family, and suspects gather. He names no one. The poison is antimony—enough to kill ten men.Behind the gaslit elegance of The Priory, a household harbors dangerous secrets. A wife with a scandalous

en

89 results

Similar Podcasts

Amr Yahia عمرو يحيى

Amr Yahia عمرو يحيى

True Crime with Kimbyr

Kimbyrleigha

True Crime Podcast 2026 - Police Interrogations, 911 Calls and True Police Stories Podcast

True Crime Podcast 2026

Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

Ben Gibson

Law And Crime On The Case with Chris Stewart

Law and Crime Network