Historical True Crime

 In the summer of 1483, two boys disappeared inside the Tower of London. Edward V and his younger brother Richard were last seen in the months after their uncle, Richard III, took the throne. In this episode, we examine the Wars of theRoses, the political crisis surrounding the princes, and the centuries of suspicion and debate that followed their disappearance.

SourceMaterials

Mancini, Dominic. The Usurpation of Richard III. Translated by C. A. J. Armstrong.

More, Sir Thomas. The History of King Richard the Third.
Pollard, A. J. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1991.
Weir, Alison. The Princes in the Tower. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992.
Vergil, Polydore. Anglica Historia.
Commines, Philippe de. Memoirs.
Thornton, Tim. “More on a Murder: The Deaths of the Princes in the Tower, and Historiographical Implications for the Regimes of Henry VII and Henry VIII.” History.
Historic Royal Palaces. “The Princes in the Tower.”
The National Archives. “Extraordinary New Clue About the Princes in the Tower Found at The National Archives.” 2 December 2024

Louis Le Prince created some of the earliest motion pictures in the 1880s, years before Edison or the Lumière brothers. In 1890, just as he was preparing to present his work publicly, he boarded a train in France and disappeared. He was neverseen again.

Source MaterialsPaul Fischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies

Nat Segnit, “Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’s Magazine (April 2022)

“100 Years Ago, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September 16, 1990

Christopher Rawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures

Stephen Herbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema

National Science and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le Prince

Leeds City Council / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on Roundhay Garden Scene and Leeds Bridge footage

PaulFischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession,Murder, and the Movies

Nat Segnit,“Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’sMagazine (April 2022)

“100 YearsAgo, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September16, 1990

ChristopherRawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of MovingPictures

StephenHerbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema

NationalScience and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le Prince

Leeds CityCouncil / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on RoundhayGarden Scene and Leeds Bridge footage

A routine Post Office investigation in 1889 led to the discovery of a male brothel on Cleveland Street, involving telegraph boys and high-profile clients linked to the royal household. As the case unfolded, key figures escaped prosecution—raising questions about power and accountability.

Source Materials

H. Montgomery Hyde, The Cleveland Street Scandal

H. Montgomery Hyde, The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in Britain

Katie Hindmarch-Watson, “Male Prostitution and the London Telegraph Boys,”

Theo Aronson, Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld

British Newspaper Archive, “Unlock the Story of the Cleveland Street Scandal” https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2023/08/01/unlock-the-story-of-the-cleveland-street-scandal/

Rictor Norton, “The Cleveland Street Scandal (1889)”https://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1889clev.htm

Contemporary newspaper reports from The Times (1889–1890)

Contemporary newspaper reports from The North London Press (1889–1890)

Anna Marie Hahn was a German immigrant living in Cincinnati in the 1930s. She cooked for people, spent time with them, and became part of their daily lives. And over time, the men she grew close to began to die.

Source Material

Franklin, Diana Britt. The Good-bye Door: The Incredible True Story of America’s First Female Serial Killer to Die in the Electric Chair. Kent State University Press, 2006.

Hunt, Amber. “Queen City Crime: How serial killer Anna Hahn rocked Cincinnati, made Ohio history.” The Cincinnati Enquirer, February 6, 2024.

Contemporary newspaper coverage, including:

The Cincinnati Enquirer (1937–1938)

The Cincinnati Post (1937)

The Pittsburgh Press (execution coverage, 1938)

Telfer, Tori. Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. HarperCollins, 2017.

Vronsky, Peter. Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters. Berkley Books, 2007.

Queen, Chelsea. “Anna Marie Hahn: The Deadly ‘Arsenic Widow.’” Medium, 2024

In 1893, Sicilian banker and former mayor Emanuele Notarbartolo was murdered on a train traveling along the northern coast of Sicily. What followed was a case that moved through multiple trials, convictions, and acquittals, raising questions about political influence, financial power, and the limits of the legal system.

Source materials

John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004)
https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/john-dickie/cosa nostra/9780340935262/

Salvatore Lupo, History of the Mafia (Columbia University Press, 2009) https://cup.columbia.edu/book/history-of-the mafia/9780231131346

“Raffaele Palizzolo Describes the Mafia,” The New YorkTimes, July 12, 1908 https://www.nytimes.com/1908/07/12/archives/raffaele-palizzolo-describes-the-mafia-the-noted-sicilian.html

“Emanuele Notarbartolo: Banker and Politician,” Italy OnThis Day https://www.italyonthisday.com/2023/02/emanuele-notarbartolo-banker-and.html

Chelsea Queen, “Emanuele Notarbartolo: The Sicilian Mafia’sFirst Victim in 1893,” Medium, December 31, 2024 https://medium.com/@chelseaqueen/emanuele-notarbartolo-the-sicilian-mafias-first-victim-in-1893

In December 1811, two households on London’s Ratcliffe Highway were brutally murdered within days of each other. As panic spread through the East End, investigators searched for a killer moving through the dockside streets. A sailor named John Williams soon became the prime suspect but his death would leave the truth uncertain.

Source Materials

P. D. James and T. A. Critchley. The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811. Faber & Faber, 1971.

Judith Flanders. The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011.

John Fairburn. Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family, Who Were Barbarously Murdered in Their House on Ratcliffe Highway. London, 1811.

Peter Ackroyd. London: The Biography. Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2000.

The Proceedings of the Coroner’s Inquest on the Marr and Williamson Murders, London, December 1811. The OldBailey Proceedings Online. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org

Radzinowicz, L. “The Ratcliffe Murders.” The Cambridge Law Journal 14, no. 1 (1956): 39–66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4504366

In October 1949, aspiring Hollywood actress Jean Spangler left her Los Angeles apartment and never returned. Despite a major police investigation and decades of speculation,Jean Spangler was never found. In this episode, we examine the evidence behind one of Hollywood’s most enduring unsolved disappearances.

Source Materials

Lewis, Jon. Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles. University of California Press, 2017.

Charles River Editors. The Disappearance of Jean Spangler: The History of One of Hollywood’s Most Enduring Mysteries. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.

Gilmore, John. Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder. Amok Books, revised edition.

Lyons, Arthur. “The Mysterious Disappearance of Jean Spangler.” Palm Springs Life.

Patmore, Neil. “Inside The Haunting Hollywood Mystery Of Aspiring Actress Jean Spangler’s Disappearance.” All That’s Interesting.

Contemporary reporting from the Los Angeles Times archive.

In 1922, six people were murdered at the remote Hinterkaifeck farm in rural Bavaria. Despite an extensive investigation, the killer was never identified. This episode examines the historical context, evidence, and enduring mystery behind one of Germany’s most famous unsolved crimes.

Source Materials

Peter Leuschner, Hinterkaifeck: Germany’s Most Mysterious Murder Case.

Bill James & Rachel McCarthy James, The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery. Scribner, 2017.

Jack Rosewood, True Crime Stories, Vol. 4 (2017).

Katie Serena, “The Gruesome True Story Of The Unsolved Hinterkaifeck Murders,” All That’s Interesting, August 3, 2023 (updated October 20, 2023).
https://allthatsinteresting.com/hinterkaifeck-murders

Sonya Vatomsky, “The Chilling Story of the Hinterkaifeck Killings, Germany’s Most Famous Unsolved Crime,” Mental Floss, July 24, 2023.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502044/chilling-story-hinterkaifeck-killings-germanys-most-famous-unsolved-crime

Rob Shapiro, “How The Hinterkaifeck Tragedy Remains Germany’s Biggest Unsolved Case.”

Tharun, “The Hinterkaifeck Murders: My Personal Theories as an Aspiring Forensic Investigator,” Medium.
https://medium.com/@tharun318106/the-hinterkaifeck-murders-my-personal-theories-as-an-aspiring-forensic-investigator-5627395ce924

If you’d like, I can also give you a shortened “mobile-friendly” version (many podcasters now use one optimized for Spotify’s collapsed show notes).Historical True Crime | Historical true crime podcast | Patreon

In 1857, a prominent New York dentist was found murdered in his Bond Street office. Suspicion fell on Emma Cunningham, the widow who ran the boardinghouse and claimed to be his wife — and heir. Her acquittal did not end the scandal. Adisputed marriage, a claimed pregnancy, and a staged birth kept the city riveted and raised new questions about truth, reputation, and inheritance in mid-19th-century New York.

Source Materials:

Duke, Franklin. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 1910.

Serratore, Angela. “The Murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell and the Scandal That Gripped 1857 New York.” Smithsonian Magazine.

Roberts, Sam. “The Murder That Gripped Bond Street.” The New York Times.

The New-York Daily Times (1857), contemporary coverage of the Burdell murder and Emma Cunningham trial.

Contemporary inquest and trialreporting in New York newspapers, 1857.

In 1629, the Dutch merchant ship Batavia wrecked on a remote reef off Western Australia. What followed was not just a struggle for survival, but a calculated campaign of violence that left more than one hundred people dead. Drawing on survivor testimony and historical records, this episode examines one of the most disturbing episodes in maritime history.

Source Materials

Pelsaert, Francisco. The Journal of Francisco Pelsaert. 1629.

Dash, Mike. Batavia’s Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2002.

Drake-Brockman, Henrietta. Voyage to Disaster. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1964.

Edwards, Hugh. Islands of Angry Ghosts. New York: William Morrow, 1966.

Western Australian Museum — Batavia Collection
https://museum.wa.gov.au/

This episode was researched using both primary historical documents and modern scholarly works.