True Crime Historian

Latest Episodes:

The East Orange Bathtub Mystery Feb 26, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS
A reading from America’s historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism.
The Sad Death of Ocey Snead
Episode 51 is about the tragic death of an apparently widowed young woman named Ocey Snead, short for Oceania, who was found drugged and drowned in a nearly empty house in East Orange, New Jersey. Three elderly sisters, Ocey’s mother and mother-in-law and aunt, were charged with her murder, but they say “suicide,” or maybe an accident. That Ocey and her husband were first cousins is one of the least sordid details of this tale.

Massacre At The Love Bungalow Feb 19, 2021

Show notes

Encore Edition
Remastered from the True Crime Historian Vault
Seven Dead at Taliesin
In Episode 46, we relive a somewhat famous crime involving the noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the night that his apparently crazed butler -- yes, the butler did it! -- slaughtered seven people at Wright’s Wisconsin rural home he named Taliesen after the ancient Welsh poet, and built as a hide-away for himself and the love of his life, Mamah Borthwick, who was among the dead.
This episode comes with a vocabulary word. Wright and Mamah referred to their flight from their former lives as their “hegira,” which Websters defines as a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation. It also refers to a period of Islamic history when Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in AD 622 was prompted by the opposition of the merchants of Mecca and marking the consolidation of the first Muslim community. So when you make a journey marking a significant change in your life situation, you can refer to it as your hegira.
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A creation Of Pulpular Media
Also from Pulpular Media:
Portals to Possibility, an improvised mock-talk show that proves you don’t have to be human to be good people. Visit pulpular.com/portals2 for a brand-new episode.
Catastrophic Calamaties, Exploring the famous and forgotten disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
Some listeners choose to support this podcast by checking in at the Safe House at www.patreon.com/truecrimehistorian, to get early access, exclusive content, and whatever personal services you require.
Some listeners don’t want to pledge monthly support but just want to send a few bucks this way. You can do that at www.buymeacoffee.com/crimehistorian. You can also subscribe to a $5 monthly or $50 annual membership!
***
Musical contributors include Nico Vitesse, Lucia La Rezza, Joyie, Danielle Mo, and Dave Sams.
Some music and sound effects licensed from podcastmusic.com.
Closing theme by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.
Media management by Sean Miller-Jones
Richard O Jones, Executive Producer

Dark Strangler Of The Continent Feb 12, 2021

Show notes

Remastered from the True Crime Historian Archives
SERIAL KILLER CLIPS
A special edition of YESTERDAY’S NEWS exploring America’s most prolific villains.
The Heinous Crimes of Earle Nelson
For Episode 52, we go north of the border into Canada on the trail of the sinister killer known as “The Dark Strangler.” He killed at least 18 women in a half-dozen United States cities, traveling thousands of miles and staying in boarding houses, leaving police without even a vague idea of his identity. Then he ventured north into Canada to continue his spree, but two murders in, the Canadian police join forces to track the man down by following the trail of the various hats he used to disguise himself.

The Pow-Wow Hex Murders Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

Encore Edition
YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
Spooky Doings In Pennsylvania Dutch Country
Episode 91 of True Crime Historian gives us a little lesson in the Pennsylvania Dutch Powwow mysticism traditions. Although it sounds like the Native American word for an inter-tribal gathering of dancing and feasting, the origins of the term in this context are obscure but refer to more European form of healing and the casting of spells — and hexes. In this story, a simple minded fellow named John Blymyer tries to rid himself and his friends of an evil curse. Yeah. Not gonna end well.
***
A creation Of Pulpular Media
Also from Pulpular Media:
Portals to Possibility, an improvised mock-talk show that proves you don’t have to be human to be good people. Visit pulpular.com/portals2 for a brand-new episode.
Catastrophic Calamaties, Exploring the famous and forgotten disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
Some listeners choose to support this podcast by checking in at the Safe House at www.patreon.com/truecrimehistorian, to get early access, exclusive content, and whatever personal services you require.
Some listeners don’t want to pledge monthly support but just want to send a few bucks this way. You can do that at www.buymeacoffee.com/crimehistorian. You can also subscribe to a $5 monthly or $50 annual membership!
***
Musical contributors include Nico Vitesse, Lucia La Rezza, Joyie, Danielle Mo, and Dave Sams.
Some music and sound effects licensed from podcastmusic.com.
Closing theme by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.
Media management by Sean Miller-Jones
Richard O Jones, Executive Producer

The Bell In The Belfry Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
The Terrible Murders of Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams
Ad-Free Safe House Edition
Episode 85 begins with a maniac leaving the mutilated bodies of young women lying around the Emanuel Baptist Church in San Francisco, 1895. Suspicion quickly falls on the young Sunday school superintendent, a strange young fellow who fancies himself something of the ladies man. The trial of Theodore Durrant turned out to be a long, drawn-out affair, but the intricate details of the case enchanted newspaper readers across the country.

British Dude Stuffed In Trunk Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
The 1885 Preller-Maxwell Murder Of St. Louis
Episode 101 spans three years and three continents as a pair of British dandies meet on the steamer ship coming out of Liverpool and make a pact to travel together across the United States and on to Auckland, New Zealand. One of them only makes it as far a St. Louis before his body is found packed in a trunk in a hotel room and his partner gone with all of his traveling money. The case, the chase, the trial and the final reckoning all make national headlines and a celebrity out of the murderer, but that’s not going to make this end any better for him.

Hypnotized By The Devil Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
Evelyn Ramadka, Queen Of The Chicago Vampires
Episode 225 at first seems like a run-of-the-mill burglary case, a good girl gone bad, until we start getting to know the defendant as the story takes careen plot turns, compounded by the sensational press coverage--and a mysterious surprise ending.

The Albury Torch Murder Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
Mystery Of The Pyjama Girl
Episode 432 comes from a request from a listener Down Under, the story of a mysterious body found smoldering in a country culvert. It takes ten years to identify the body and name a suspect, but one interested physician claims they misidentified the victim and pinned the crime on the wrong man. Weigh the evidence yourself, and let me know you’re verdict.

Naomi's Infernal New Year's Surprise Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
A Deadly Package At Seat Pleasant
Episode 430 tells of another holiday celebration ending in tragedy, when a mysterious package makes its way to the home of a young recently secretly married expectant mother. Suspicion falls at once to the family of her secret husband, and the husband himself.
***
A creation Of Pulpular Media
Also from Pulpular Media:
Portals to Possibility, an improvised mock-talk show that proves you don’t have to be human to be good people. Visit pulpular.com/portals2 for a brand-new episode.
Catastrophic Calamaties, Exploring the famous and forgotten disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
Some listeners choose to support this podcast by checking in at the Safe House at www.patreon.com/truecrimehistorian, to get early access, exclusive content, and whatever personal services you require.
Some listeners don’t want to pledge monthly support but just want to send a few bucks this way. You can do that at www.buymeacoffee.com/crimehistorian. You can also subscribe to a $5 monthly or $50 annual membership!
***
Musical contributors include Nico Vitesse, Lucia La Rezza, Joyie, Danielle Mo, and Dave Sams.
Some music and sound effects licensed from podcastmusic.com.
Closing theme by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.
Media management by Sean Miller-Jones
Richard O Jones, Executive Producer

Olive Jones’s Gruesome Christmas Vigil Dec 25, 2020

Show notes

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism...
The End Of The Skinny And Stumpy Affair
Episode 429 is our very special holiday episode, in which a disenchanted housewife pulls the trigger on her lover and claims self-defense. Let’s see how that works out for her.
Culled from the historic pages of the Louisville Courier-Journal and other newspapers of the era.
***
A creation Of Pulpular Media
Also from Pulpular Media:
Portals to Possibility, an improvised mock-talk show that proves you don’t have to be human to be good people. Visit pulpular.com/portals2 for a brand-new episode.
Catastrophic Calamaties, Exploring the famous and forgotten disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
Some listeners choose to support this podcast by checking in at the Safe House at www.patreon.com/truecrimehistorian, to get early access, exclusive content, and whatever personal services you require.
Some listeners don’t want to pledge monthly support but just want to send a few bucks this way. You can do that at www.buymeacoffee.com/crimehistorian. You can also subscribe to a $5 monthly or $50 annual membership!
***
Musical contributors include Nico Vitesse, Lucia La Rezza, Joyie, Danielle Mo, and Dave Sams.
Some music and sound effects licensed from podcastmusic.com.
Closing theme by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.
Media management by Sean Miller-Jones
Richard O Jones, Executive Producer

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