Historical True Crime

In a wealthy London home, Eliza Fenning served as a housekeeper for Mr. Turner, a legal stationer. She was executed for allegedly attempting to poison him and his family by preparing arsenic-laced dumplings for the dinner table. Due to the general belief that Fenning was innocent, her trial and execution were sensational at the time.

Source Materials:

https://marylmmaculatelonnerholman.medium.com/when-poverty-was-a-crime-the-execution-of-elizabeth-fenning-893772d83051

https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/eliza-fenning-innocent-but-proven-guilty/

http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/eliza.html

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18150405-18&div=t18150405-18

Critical Survey, Vol. 13, No. 2,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41557107

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/q93xw68s/items?canvas=8

https://ia600502.us.archive.org/19/items/b20443262/b20443262.pdf

The first person in Ireland to be found guilty of witchcraft was Alice Kyteler. She fled persecution but on November 3, 1324, Petronilla de Meath, one of her servants, was flogged and burned at the stake. Listen to the full story now!

Source Materials:

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/countess-elizabeth-bathory-and-the-dark-truth-behind-her-killer-legend

https://www.historyhit.com/the-blood-countess-facts-about-elizabeth-bathory/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/elizabeth-bathory

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/death-countess-elizabeth-bathory

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Bathory

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/the-bloody-legend-of-hungarys-serial-killer-countess

The 1920s saw a number of serial murderers in North America, but no one was more active than Earle Nelson, also known as "the Gorilla Killer or Dark Strangler." Nelson appeared to be able to kill at will as he wandered the country for more than a year, breaking into and out of suburban residences and boarding houses with ease.

Source Materials:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/earle-nelson

https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/the-stangler.pdf

https://www.therichest.com/shocking/15-facts-about-the-gorilla-man-earle-nelson/

https://cvltnation.com/the-butcher-baker-and-the-gorilla-killer-six-serial-killers-you-may-not-have-heard-of/

https://the-line-up.com/gorilla-man-murders-earle-leonard-nelson

https://murderpedia.org/male.N/n/nelson-earle.htm

Schechter, Harold

Catherine Monvoisin was the wife of a jeweller and silk merchant. She had a comfortable home in the fashionable Villeneuve Sur Gravois neighbourhood in the centre of Paris. She was a mother, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a lover of the arts. But she was also a witch, one who nearly overthrew the French aristocracy and almost succeeded in slaying a king.

Source Materials:

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/la-voisin-frances-murderous-fortune-teller

https://partylike1660.com/catherine-monvoisin-fortune-teller-sorceress-and-poisoner/

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/black-masses-la-voisin-how-fortune-teller-became-murderess-french-royal-court-021057

https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/l/la_voisin_catherine_monvoisin.html

In 1947, Jake Bird was executed for the murder of a mother and her daughter. Just before his death, he confessed to murdering 44 people, and at least 11 murders have been confirmed. The fact that Bird thought he could hex individuals with his name made him a unique serial killer. As people tried to punish him, he put the "Jake Bird" hex on them, and amazingly, several people involved in his trial passed away suddenly. Listen to the full episode now!

Source Materials:

https://www.southsoundtalk.com/2016/03/31/jake-bird-tacoma/

https://dani-hendrix.medium.com/the-serial-killer-who-believed-his-name-was-a-hex-8763d6fe195b

https://www.historylink.org/File/7971

https://sites.psu.edu/beamerblog/2021/11/05/serial-killer-9-jake-bird-aka-the-tacoma-ax-killer/

https://torontosun.com/news/world/crime-hunter-serial-killer-jake-birds-chilling-hex-left-six-more-dead

https://northomahahistory.com/2021/11/05/a-history-of-jake-bird-in-north-omaha/

Before mysteriously disappearing in 1908, Belle Gunness murdered two of her husbands, a number of single men, and several of her own children on a pig farm in La Porte, Indiana. A fire broke out at her farm on April 28, 1908, and a headless woman's body was found inside. Was it Belle, or did she fake her own death and escape? Listen to the entire story now.

Source Materials:

https://laportecountyhistory.org/exhibits/belle-gunness/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/belle-gunness

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/belle-gunness/

https://www.biography.com/crime/belle-gunness

https://www.historicmysteries.com/belle-gunness/