History Dweebs - A look at True Crime, Murders, Serial Killers and the Darkside of History

Born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria, Marie Antoinette helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. She became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy.  As a 20-year consort to Louis XVI, she was beheaded by The Guillotine on October 16, 1793.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The Lipstick Murders" were a series of brutal attacks which occurred near Chicago in the mid 1940s. Though a serial burglar named William Heirens confessed to the murders, he later recanted his confession on the grounds that it was forced by the Chicago PD. With very little physical evidence connecting Heirens to the crimes, did the Police really get their man?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesse Pomeroy was odd looking as a child. He had a large head, hairlip and one all white eye. In 1874, he became a serial rapist and killer. At 14 years old, Jesse Pomeroy became the youngest person in America convicted of murder.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Bernado and Karla Homolka were Canadian serial killers who attracted worldwide media attention in the 1990s when they were convicted of raping and murdering teenage girls, including Karla's own sister, Tammy Homolka.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Known as the Gainesville Ripper, Danny Rolling was an American serial killer who brutally murdered five college students in Gainesville, Florida in 1990. Rolling later confessed to an additional triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana and attempting to murder his own father. In total, Rolling confessed to killing eight people.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In late 1957, teenagers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate went on a killing spree in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Their senseless rampage left 11 people dead including Fugate's entire family. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Johnny Broderick served as a NYPD Police Detective from 1923 until 1947. One of the most colorful officers ever to wear a badge, Broderick was best known for using excessive force and doling out justice to such famed gangsters as Legs Diamond and "Two Gun" Crawley.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the fall of 1996, young women started disappearing in the small town of Poughkeepsie, New York.  Police were sure they were dealing with a serial killer,  However, they had one problem...they could not find any dead bodies..that is until investigators starting searching the attic of local school employee Kendall Francois.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1945, after a very questionable murder conviction, a 16 year old black teenager, Willie Francis, was sentenced to die in the Louisiana's electric chair.  The first execution sent shockwaves through Willie repeatedly but failed to kill him.  The drunken executioners had failed to hook up the chair properly.  A second execution was scheduled six days later.  Willie's new attorneys fought the second execution on the grounds it constitued "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" which is prohibited under the U.S. Constitution   This is the story of their desperate attempt to save Willie's life. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between July 1963 and October 1965, young lovers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered 5 young people in and around Manchester, England. These sensless acts of violence became known as "The Moors Murders"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.