In Victorian England, the press were never shy of calling a crime the “sensation of the century” or a murder, “the most astonishing the world had ever seen.” When the body of a young woman showed up on the beach of a popular seaside resort town, no-one would have imagined it would provoke just such proclamations. As the story unravelled, and the winding, and ... Show More
Aug 20
Introducing: CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CULTS, AND CRIMES
From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes every Wednesday as we explore the real people at the center of the world’s most shocking sec ... Show More
9m 49s
Oct 2024
Horace Walpole’s Gothic Castles, Part 2
Part two of our episode on Horace Walpole gets into the gothic literature and gothic castles his life is associated with, including his own eclectic and impressive home, Strawberry Hill. Research: "Horace Walpole." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 38, Gale, 2018. Gal ... Show More
39m 52s
Dec 2024
The murders at Rillington Place: postwar London's grisliest crimes
On 24 March 1953, a tenant of 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill made a gruesome discovery. Inside the walls of the downstairs flat, he uncovered the bodies of three women. More were to follow. A nationwide manhunt was launched for the prime suspect, Reg Christie, and the murders ... Show More
36m 40s
Oct 2024
Ghosts of the British Isles, Part 1
Part one of our Halloween finale on British Isles ghosts features two very classic ghost tales: the brown lady of Raynham Hall and the ghosts of of Ballygally Castle. Research: Aldridge, Alfred Owen. “Franklin and the Ghostly Drummer of Tedworth.” The William and Mary Quarterly, ... Show More
34m 53s
Nov 2024
Lord Lucan: the vanishing earl
On 7 November, 1974, nanny Sandra Rivett was found murdered in the affluent London neighbourhood of Belgravia. The prime suspect? The father of her young charges, Lord Lucan. But before the aristocrat could be questioned, he vanished, sparking one of the greatest cause célèbres o ... Show More
36m 35s
Feb 2025
Episode 646: The Unsolved Murder of Jeannette DePalma
On the afternoon of August 7, 1972, sixteen-year-old Jeannette DePalma left her house in Springfield, NJ and was never seen alive again. Six weeks later, Jeannette’s remains were discovered when a neighborhood dog returned to its owner at a newly built apartment complex, carrying ... Show More
1h 18m