“Let me have a man for one night, and I’ll have him confessing he’s the king of England,” Lavrentiy Beria bragged to his colleague, Nikita Khrushchev. He was intelligent and intriguing and cynical. He was also violent, unethical, and prone to using ruthless measures, including kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder. And he was almost the ruler of the Soviet Union after the Second World War – until his former colleagues executed him for treason. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lavrentiy Beria, the Chief of Stalin's Secret Police Who Was Executed as a Traitor

Humans have always committed crimes. What can we learn from the criminals and crimes of the past, and have humans gotten better or worse over time?

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“It’s the Hair – not the Hat That Makes a Woman Attractive,” read one ad for the Seven Sutherland Sisters’ scalp cleaner. Sisters Sarah, Victoria, Isabella, Grace, Naomi, Dora, and Mary Sutherland were performers who sang and played instruments, but what the crowds came to see was their hair; primarily because there was, collectively, 37 feet of it. By 1880, they were billed as the "Seven Wonders" – and just four years later, their patent hair tonic had made them a fortune. This is a Victorian rags-to-riches story. Well, it’s more of a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. As it goes.


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‘A Niagara of Curls’: The Story of the Seven Sutherland Sisters

Hi, Criminalia listeners! We are super excited about the return of Bridgerton: The Official Podcast and want you to share in the excitement with us. Alongside a new season of the TV show the companion podcast, which takes you behind the scenes through interviews with actors, writers, directors, and more. We think you'll want to tune in, but don't just take our word for it. Check out the trailer and decide for yourself!
Ready for more? Tune in weekly to Bridgerton: The Official Podcast. Available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Bridgerton The Official Podcast Season 3

In 1946, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” Long before Camel cigarettes became the doctor-approved cigarette of choice, at least in advertising, people living with asthma were often instructed to inhale smoke to relieve their symptoms. And that advice was for asthmatic adults – and children. ‘Asthma cigarettes’, as they were called, and related products, weren’t packed full of tobacco, though many did include it; they were, essentially, psychotropic drugs from the nightshade family that people inhaled in hopes of finding respiratory relief. Let's take a look at what kinds of quack – and, to be honest, some not-so-quack – products for asthma before the invention of the modern inhaler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Asthma and Smoking: When Cigarettes Were Medicine

By the time he was in his 40s, Perry Davis was an entrepreneur who had tried, unsuccessfully, to start multiple businesses; and those failures had left him $4,500 in debt – roughly more than $160,000 today. In 1839, his bad luck continued when he then became ill with debilitating pain. Seeking even just any little bit of relief, he mixed up a concoction, containing mostly opiates and alcohol – a mix that would later become known around the world as, “Perry Davis’ Vegetable Pain Killer.” And Davis would become known as the guy who trademarked the word, ‘painkiller’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

That Time Perry Davis Trademarked ‘Pain Killer’ and Then Took It Global

John Healy wasn’t a real doctor. Charles Bigelow was never a scout in the United States Army. And, the products they sold weren’t actually based on healing secrets of the Kickapoo people. Yet, the two men made a fortune from their Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company patent medicines – which, while named for them, not a single Kickapoo was involved with the company or its remedies. The story of Healy and Bigelow is one of quackery, lies, native cultural appropriation, and ... wait, did we call out the cultural appropriation? Yes? Well, then, let's talk about this.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lavrentiy Beria, the Chief of Stalin's Secret Police Who Was Executed as a Traitor

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