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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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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16:31

Balham, London: The Priory Poisoning Mystery

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/03/03

Content WarningThis episode contains discussions of domestic abuse, poisoning, and death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39: The Balham Mystery. April 1876—a successful barrister collapses in his bedroom after drinking from a bedside water jug. For three agonizing days, doctors begged him to name his poisoner. He never would. This is the story of Charles Bravo, and the Victorian murder that has never been solved.Behind the elegant facade of The Priory, a

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29:16

London: A Murder Verdict in Victorian Court

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/02/24

A Victorian courtroom drama unfolds as a chilling murder verdict is delivered in 19th-century London, a place of evolving laws and societal norms. This episode, nestled in the heart of Season 38's exploration of 'The Rugeley Poisoner,' uncovers the judicial outcomes and societal impact of murder trials during this transformative era. Episode 3 follows the toxic trail left by the infamous Dr. William Palmer. This physician, perceived by many as a respectable figure, secretly loitered in

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20:52

New York: The Doctor's Care

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/02/17

Enter 'The Doctor's Care' in New York—a chilling glimpse into the remaining shadows of the Rugeley Poisoner series, Part 2. This four-part narrative dissects the devious manipulations of Dr. William Palmer, a man whose affable facade masked cruel intentions. Diving deeper than mere medical malpractice, these stories reveal how once-respected figures turned to devious strategies to stave off ruin at any cost. The 19th-century medical realm provided fertile ground for deception and

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22:10

Staffordshire: The Rugeley Poisoner's First Victim

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/02/10

In the fog-laden lanes of Victorian Staffordshire, William Palmer found his first victim, igniting a path of sinister intent that would crown him the notorious Rugeley Poisoner. Season 38 of Foul Play delves deep into the life and crimes of William Palmer, unraveling the chilling narrative from his humble beginnings to the peak of his criminal exploits. Long before William Palmer was branded a murderer, he was a doctor known for his charisma and skill in horse racing circles. He was a family man in

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20:58

Devizes: Constance Kent's Confession and Second Life

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/02/03

This is the fourth and final episode of our series examining the 1860 Road Hill House murder, the case that gave birth to modern detective fiction. Previous episodes covered the murder of three-year-old Francis Saville Kent, Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher's groundbreaking investigation, and the five years of cold case torment that preceded Constance Kent's confession.The gallery was packed to suffocation. July 21, 1865. Five years they'd waited for this moment. Five years since

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24:30

Brighton: Constance Kent's Five Years of Silence

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/01/27

Road Hill House was no longer home. It was a crime scene that everyone recognised and no one could forget. The servants whispered in corners. New staff refused positions. And somewhere across England, a teenage girl carried a secret that would rattle the nation.Three-year-old Francis Saville Kent had been dead for five years, but his presence haunted everyone connected to Road Hill House. His wicker cot had been moved to the attic. His toys—the wooden rocking horse, the tin soldiers, the stuffed

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47:46

Wiltshire: Detective Whicher and the Road Hill House...

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/01/20

This is Episode 2 of 4 in Foul Play's Road Hill House Murder series, covering Victorian England's most notorious family crime. Episode 1 established the Kent family's toxic dynamics and the discovery of three-year-old Francis Saville Kent's body. This episode follows Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher's revolutionary investigation and his tragic downfall at the hands of Victorian class prejudice.On July 16, 1860, a train departed Paddington Station carrying a middle-aged man

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35:37

Wiltshire: The Road Hill House Murder of 1860

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/01/13

Season 37, Episode 1 of 4This is the first episode in Foul Play's four-part investigation into Victorian England's most notorious family murder and the case that birthed modern detective fiction.Elizabeth Gough checked Francis Saville Kent's cot at five in the morning on June 30, 1860. The blankets were gone. The three-year-old was gone. And somewhere in Road Hill House, someone who knew exactly what had happened was waiting for the search to begin—On the last night of June 1860,

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24:54

Silesia: The Forgotten Cannibal of Münsterberg

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2026/01/09

This episode is part of Season 36: Serial Killers in History—a single-episode deep dive into one of the most disturbing and least-known serial killers of the Weimar era.December 1924. A homeless stonemason narrowly escapes death in a small Silesian town. What police discover in the aftermath reveals twenty-one years of murder hidden behind the most respectable facade imaginable—a church organ blower who sold his victims as pork at public markets. The story of Karl Denke forces us to confront how

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23:18

Hungary: Béla Kiss and the Lonely Hearts Murders

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/30

Episode 14 of 15 | Season 36: Serial Killers in HistoryIn a locked storage chamber in rural Hungary, seven sealed metal drums waited to reveal their terrible secrets—each containing the perfectly preserved body of a woman who had answered a marriage advertisement.The investigation into Hungary's most prolific lonely hearts killer reaches its chilling conclusion as we trace Béla Kiss's extraordinary escape from justice during the chaos of World War One.VICTIM PROFILE:Katherine Varga sold her

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26:23

Marrakesh: The Shoemaker Who Buried 36 Women

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/23

Season 36, Episode 13 of our Serial Killers in History series. This episode examines one of North Africa's most notorious crimes and the execution that shocked the world.In the spring of 1906, authorities in Marrakesh make a discovery that will reverberate across continents. Beneath the packed-earth floor of a modest shoemaker's workshop, they uncover the remains of twenty-six women. Ten more bodies lie buried in a garden nearby. Thirty-six victims in total—women who came to a trusted

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32:32

Netherlands: The Angel of Death's 27 Victims

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/16

In the fog-shrouded streets of 1880s Leiden, a woman everyone called "Good Mary" brought food to the sick, consoled the grieving, and prepared the dead for burial. For three years, she was the angel of her neighborhood—the trusted caregiver who helped when no one else would. No one suspected that the porridge she served was laced with arsenic. No one questioned why so many of her patients died. Until a doctor noticed somethingMaria Swanenburg's victims included 27 confirmed deaths among

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44:13

El Chalequero - Francisco Guerrero Pérez

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/10

The shepherd saw everything—watched as El Chalequero dragged an elderly woman toward the Consulado River, pulled a knife from hisEpisode 11 of 15 | Season 36: Serial Killers in HistoryMexico City's first documented serial killer hunted working-class women for nearly three decades. This episode examines the systemic failures that allowed Francisco Guerrero Pérez to operate freely while authorities looked the other way.The Women History ForgotMurcia Gallardo was 47 years old when she died—a market

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31:19

Finland: Matti Haapoja and the Great Famine Murders

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/02

Episode 10 of 15 | Series 36: Serial Killers in HistoryFinland's first documented serial killer terrorized two continents across three decades. This episode traces Matti Haapoja's brutal journey from famine-ravaged Finland to Siberian exile and back—a life defined by escape, violence, and ultimately, one final act of defiance.Victim HumanizationHeikki Impponen was forty-two years old when he walked along that frozen road in December 1867. A farmer with a wife named Kaisa and three children

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30:30

Geneva: The Nurse Who Poisoned Her Patients

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast ·

2025/11/18

On a warm June afternoon in 1868, a 24-year-old woman accepted a glass of lemonade from her nurse at a Geneva boarding house. Within moments, her pupils dilated grotesquely, her heart pounded violently, and reality dissolved into nightmare. That glass of lemonade broke open one of Switzerland's most disturbing criminal cases.SEASON & EPISODE CONTEXTThis is Episode 9 of Foul Play Season 36: "Serial Killers in History," examining murderers from ancient times through the early 1900s

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