Join us for part two as Beth explores more quack medicine and horrifying medical experiments.

REFERENCES

• Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780761189817

• https://www.aamc.org/news/grave-errors-spooky-cures-and-creepy-medical-missteps-past

• https://time.com/4982099/quackery-medicine-history

• https://www.nytimes.com/video/well/100000010831025/the-internets-latest-wonder-drug-nicotine.html

• https://www.mdlinx.com/article/how-docs-are-responding-to-the-maha-linked-trend-pushing-nicotine-as-an-anti-dementia-hack/3KjgIchHjyeX6e6EDf3B4B

• https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/04/10-strange-medical-practices-from-history

• https://www.ohsu.edu/historical-collections-archives/theres-cure-historic-medicines-and-cure-alls-america

• https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/our-stories/old-fashioned-medicine-still-in-use

• https://www.healthline.com/health/old-medical-treatments-make-your-stomach-turn

• https://www.businessinsider.com/yes-bayer-promoted-heroin-for-children-here-are-the-ads-that-prove-it-2011-11?op=1

• https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/-cure-all-medication-caused-death-in-thousands-of-babies

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sqBr4vJHaY

• https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/hole-in-the-head-trepanation

• https://www.vice.com/en/article/drilling-a-hole-in-your-head-for-a-higher-state-of-consciousness

• https://bcmj.org/mds-be/brief-reflection-not-so-brief-history-lobotomy

Ever heard of the rheumatism hotel? Wondered how George Washington really died? Considered adorning your bosom with weasel testicles?

We certainly hadn’t.

As it turns out, medicine was once more of an art than a science. After this episode, you'll be eternally grateful that someone figured out that science part.

Please don’t send this episode to RFK, Jr.

Sources:

Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780761189817

https://www.aamc.org/news/grave-errors-spooky-cures-and-creepy-medical-missteps-past

https://time.com/4982099/quackery-medicine-history

https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/04/10-strange-medical-practices-from-history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_surgeon

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/prescription-rheumatism-used-be-sit-inside-rotting-whale-30-hours-180950335

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-26807485

https://www.fibonaccimd.com/post/the-history-of-the-whale-cure-for-rheumatism

https://magicsilverbullet.substack.com/p/the-whale-hotel-for-rheumatism

https://www.bbc.com/bbcthree/article/e671cb02-4e5e-4f52-a835-25a5dd2a5963

https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/ss/slideshow-birth-control-history

https://www.livescience.com/11376-history-future-birth-control/2.html

https://www.history.com/articles/7-unusual-ancient-medical-techniques

Got the Morbs takes on its first serial killer case (with an Ohio connection). This is one of the most brutal stories we’ve told to date - not just for the murders but for the prolonged torture these poor victims endured. This is the story of the Kansas City Butcher.

Sources:

https://crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/bob_berdella/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6139717/robert_andrew-berdella

Robert Berdella - Wikipedia

Once upon a time, in rural Massachusetts, a creepy, stinky teenage boy called Danny escalated from petty theft to stalking to triple homicide in the span of two years. This is his story.

A case with three gruesome murders and one twisted abduction from our home state of Ohio. We promise you’ll never look at a pile of crisp autumn leaves in the same way again.

P.S. We have an update on the Villisca murder bacon, courtesy of a patron and a former butcher we met at a bar recently. (It’s a little worse than we thought.)

Sources:

https://www.truecrimeavenue.com/2024/10/the-case-of-matthew-hoffman-he.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hoffman_(murderer)

https://inews.co.uk/culture/matthew-hoffman-now-what-happened-to-tina-herrmanns-killer-and-how-long-hes-in-jail-3628368

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/knox-county-detective-recounts-one-of-ohios-most-horrific-murder-cases-15-years-later-matthew-hoffman/530-7b709ec6-f783-4079-b418-8c7c4ddf60fb

https://moviedelic.com/matthew-john-hoffman/

https://abcnews.com/US/killer-matthew-hoffman-stockpiled-leaves-ohio-home-made/story?id=12877942

https://www.oxygen.com/twisted-killers/crime-news/why-matthew-hoffman-is-known-as-leaf-killer

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354984/Matthew-Hoffmann-Confession-burglar-murdered-3-raped-girl.html

Sarah Maynard: What Happened to the Survivor?

The unfortunate life of Maria Marten and The Red Barn of Polstead

References:

• Listen to “Murder in the Red Barn” by Tom Waits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD5ycbCKg7Y
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYYjhbpqKQs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3ocyLyAKE
• https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwvl93ywlpo
• https://www.mentalfloss.com/crime/red-barn-murder
• https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_accurate_account_of_the_trial_of_Will/cUDw7ut9RK4C
• https://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/view/?id=15013
• https://visit-burystedmunds.co.uk/blog/red-barn-murder
• https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903742
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-real-electric-frankenstein-experiments-of-the-1800s
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/phrenology-in-victorian-america.htm

Today’s episode combines two of our interests: true crime and the supernatural. WHY IS THERE BACON?!?!

https://bestattractions.org/usa/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house-ia/

https://usghostadventures.com/hauntings/

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/villisca-axe-murders/

The Unsolved Mystery Of The Villisca Axe Murders

Oh look, our first explicit content warning! (Thanks, Beth!)

Join us for our most juvenile episode to date, as we learn about five famous men and their... eccentricities.

Much of my research came from “The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People”

Link to buy: https://feralhouse.com/the-intimate-sex-lives-of-famous-people

· https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/02/james-joyces-love-letters-dirty-little-fuckbird

· https://web.archive.org/web/20140707230101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/magazine/letters-warren-g-harding.html

· https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/warren-harding-child-sex-sandal-121404

· https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/11/talking-tough-martin-luthers-potty-mouth

· https://www.sacerdotus.com/2025/11/martin-luthers-fart-fetish.html

· https://www.history.com/articles/what-is-seppuku

· https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/02/archives/japans-student-army-disbands.html

· https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201124-yukio-mishima-the-strange-tale-of-japans-infamous-novelist

· https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/28/mark-twains-disturbing-passion-for-collecting-young-girls

· https://marktwainstudies.com/the-study/a-disturbing-passion-mark-twain-the-angelfish

· https://medium.com/timeline/mark-twain-collected-little-girls-55abc82a41b3

· https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisals/angel-fish-pin-from-mark-twain-ca-1895

The baffling case of Carl Eric “Charlie” Brandt

Sources:

https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/brandt-carl.htm

https://allthatsinteresting.com/charlie-brandt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brandt

Beth teaches us about the customs and traditions of Victorian mourning culture, from funeral cakes to post-mortem photography. Ken instigates. Erin absolutely loses her shit. Join us!

References:

• https://www.hrm.org/events/curator-tour-from-home-mourning-in-glenview
• https://www.hrm.org/mourning-in-the-victorian-era-and-glenview
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/queen-victoria-influence
• https://artsci.case.edu/dittrick/2014/04/29/deadly-diphtheria-the-childrens-plague
• https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/great-unwashed
• https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100519
• https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/england/englishness-funeral-objects.html
• https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com
• https://www.ericaweiner.com/history-lessons/hair-jewelry
• https://burialsandbeyond.com/2019/03/21/in-praise-of-death-stationary
• https://nmfh.org
• https://www.museumofdeath.net
• https://www.facebook.com/p/Anatomy-Of-Death-Museum-100035441096317
• https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/death-in-early-america/post-mortem-overview
• https://www.sideshowgallerychicago.com/shop/p/beyond-the-dark-veil-post-mortem-mourning-photographyfrom-the-thanatos-archive