The first time Ed Newcomer went to the L.A. Bug Fair, he met a man who called himself the world’s most wanted butterfly smuggler. It took three years of undercover work for Ed Newcomer to catch him in the act.

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“He stole my watch. He stole my jewelry. I stopped wearing jewelry – just to see what else he would steal.” In 2004, Ava Do met a professional pickpocket at a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. And they fell in love.

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On May 13, 1862, in Charleston, South Carolina, a man named Robert Smalls took command of a Confederate ship called The Planter and liberated himself and his family from slavery. As they passed the Confederate-held Fort Sumter, Robert Smalls was said to have saluted it with a whistle, and then added an extra one, “as a farewell to the confederacy.”

Robert Smalls’ great-great-grandson, Michael Boulware Moore, tells the story.

This episode was first released in June 2020.

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In 2023, police raided the Kansas newspaper where Eric Meyer worked with his mother, Joan. Seven officers also searched their home. Joan had a heart attack and died the next day.

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“Anything you can think of is going to be in the water.”

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Bettersten Wade searched for her missing 37-year-old son for nearly six months. Then she found out that the police knew where he was the whole time.

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On September 18, 1998, an unusual ad ran in USA Today — a company called John’s Estate Sales was looking to buy a moon rock. The phone number on the ad belonged to Special Agent Joe Gutheinz at NASA.

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The bodies of a woman and her child were found inside a burned house on Christmas Day, 1843. An autopsy showed that they’d died before the fire even started.

Alex Hortis's book is The Witch of New York.

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Stories of animals really going for it.

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In 1985, 160 people were sent letters saying they’d won free tickets to an NFL football game. They were told to pick up their tickets at the Washington Convention Center. When they arrived, they were greeted by cheerleaders, men in tuxedos, and team mascots. But then, they found out there were never any tickets at all.

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