Old Blood

In 1864, a small city in southern Brazil witnessed what many have called “the greatest crime on earth.” The legend of what occurred in a Porto Alegre slum still haunts the city to this day, as do many questions. Is the crime true, or is it simply national folklore? Did the famous biologist Charles Darwin really comment on these murders as he read about them an ocean away? And, how much do we really know about what is in the food we consume?

Sources:

ANB. “Human sausage in 1863 Porto Alegre (no, really! true story)” Repository. 24 August 2010. http://random-anb.blogspot.com/2010/08/human-sausage-in-1863-porto-alegre-no.html

Arvoredo Street Crimes. 7 November, 2013. https://crimesdaruadoarvoredo-blogspot-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=sc

Bayer, Diego Augusto. “Crimes on Rua do Arvoredo: sausages made from human flesh- Historical Judgments” Jusbrasil. 9 May 2017. https://diegobayer-jusbrasil-com-br.translate.goog/artigos/456091552/crimes-da-rua-do-arvoredo-as-linguicas-de-carne-humana?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

“The crimes of Rua do Arvoredo: sausages made from human flesh” Litera. https://litera-mus-br.translate.goog/os-crimes-da-rua-do-arvoredo-as-linguicas-de-carne-humana/?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

De Lucena, Eleonora. “The Greatest Crime on Earth” Folha de S. Paulo. 23 November, 1996. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1996/11/23/opiniao/4.html

Fonseca, Jose. “A Brief History of Brazil.” The New York Times, 2006. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/centralandsouthamerica/brazil/riodejaneiro/fdrs_feat_129_9.html?n=Top%252FFeatures%252FTravel%252FDestinations%252FCentral+and+South+America%252FBrazil%252FRio+de+Janeiro

Gearini, Victoria. “THE UNUSUAL CRIMES OF RUA DO ARVOREDO, IN PORTO ALEGRE” Aventuras na Historia. 8 December 2021. https://aventurasnahistoria-uol-com-br.translate.goog/noticias/reportagem/os-insolitos-crimes-da-rua-do-arvoredo-em-porto-alegre.phtml?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

“History - Porto Alegre, From Past to Present” About Brasil. http://www.aboutbrasil.com/modules/brazil-brasil/rio-de-janeiro_sao-paulo_fortaleza.php?hoofd=3&sub=19&art=197

James. “The Crimes of Rua do Arvoredo.” Blogspot. 20 July, 2012. https://oscrimesdaruadoarvoredo-blogspot-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=sc

“Jose Ramos and Catarina Palse in 1864 Porto Alegre” Fuck n’Words. 2012. https://fucknwords.tumblr.com/post/13297328110/jos%C3%A9-ramos-e-catarina-palse-em-1864-porto-alegre

“Porto Alegre, Brazil” Sustainable Cities. 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20100605214840/http://sustainablecities.net/plusnetwork/plus-cities/porto-alegre-brazil 

Rubi. “The Crimes of the Rua do Arvoredo.” Blogspot. 16 January, 2009. https://oscrimesdaruadoarvoredo-blogspot-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=sc

“The Sausage Murders” The Horror Tree. 5 May, 2013. http://thehorrortree.blogspot.com/search/label/True%20story

Weber, Jessica Rebeca. “No human sausage: crimes on Rua do Arvoredo inspire coffee project in the Historic Center” GZH Porto Alegre. 31 October 2019. https://gauchazh.clicrbs.com.br/porto-alegre/noticia/2019/10/sem-linguica-humana-crimes-da-rua-do-arvoredo-inspiram-projeto-de-cafe-no-centro-historico-ck26or65w09vs01r2azf48z3s.html

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

New York's Adirondack Mountains have long been praised for their tranquility and restorative powers on the body and soul. But in 1906, a tragedy shattered this illusion and brought a girl’s heartbreak to the front page of newspapers across the country. 

Sources:

Brandon, Craig. Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited. (Utica: North Country Books, 2003).

Brownell, Joseph W. and Wawrzaszek, Patricia A.,  Adirondack Tragedy: The Gillette Murder Case of 1906. (Heart of the Lake Publishing, 1906).

The Daily Sentinel. “‘Poor Little Girl’ Said the World.” March 26, 1908.

Herman, Susan N., “People v. Gillette and Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy: Law v. Literature.” Judicial Notice. Issue 11. 2016.

The Post Standard. “Made No Effort to Save Drowning Girl, Gillette Confesses.” December 1, 1906.

“Chester E. Gillette Guilty of Murder in First Degree: Verdict Found in Five Hours.” December 5, 1906.

“Chester Gillette Dies To-Day in the Electric Chair.” March 30, 1908.

“First Shock Sends Slayer into Eternity.” March 31, 1908.

Schechter, Harold. Ripped from the Headlines!: The Shocking True Stories Behind the Movies’ Most Memorable Crimes. (New York: Little A, 2020).

The Syracuse Herald.“Girl Drowned; Escort Missing,” July 13, 1906

The Washington Times. “Gillette Pays Death Penalty for his Crime.” March 30, 1908.

The Westbury Evening Democrat. March 30, 1908.

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In 1899, Allen Britt did Frankie Baker wrong. The consequence of his betrayal was murder and a ragtime song from St. Louis that became a cherished part of American folklore. 

Sources:
“Britt, Allen [Frankie and Johnny],” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2234.

Cooperman, Jeanette. “The story of segregation in St. Louis.” St. Louis Magazine. October 17, 2014. https://www.stlmag.com/news/the-color-line-race-in-st.-louis/

Merkel, Jim. “THIS WEEK IN SOUTHSIDE HISTORY: 1899 shooting here may have inspired famous song” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 16, 2008. https://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/news/this-week-in-south-side-history-1899-shooting-here-may-have-inspired-famous-song/article_5e2ce4d4-6cb0-53ba-8665-746a9b0ba0d4.html

Morgan, Stacy. Frankie and Johnny: Race, Gender, and the Work of African American Folklore in 1930s America. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017).

“Murder Ballads (A visit to a bad neighborhood) Part 2.” Riverside Blues Society. https://trueblueser.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/murder-ballads-a-visit-to-a-bad-neighborhood-part-2/

Smith, Jessie Carney. Ed. Encyclopedia of African American Culture. Vol. 1. (Oxford: Greenwood, 2011.)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 19, 1899.

“Contends Targee Street Frankie is One Done Wrong.” October 14, 1939.

“Frankie’s Inquest Story in ‘99 to be Used in Suit.” October 16, 1939.

“Al’s Friend Says Frankie Just an Ordinary Girl.” October 21, 1939.

October 28, 1939.

“George Britt Testifies Al a Good Boy.” November 11, 1939.

“Shot Her Man at 212 Targee Frankie Says.” February 13, 1942.

“Testifies ‘Frankie’ Ballad May Stem Back to Africa.” February 18, 1942.

“Frankie Says She Hopes Her Man is in Heaven Now.” February 20, 1942.

“Frankie Loses Again.” February 25, 1942.

“Lovers’ Spat Turns into Famous Ballad.” October 17, 2010.

Young, Perry Deane. The Untold Story of Frankie Silver: Was She Unjustly Hanged? (New York: ASJA Press, 2005.)

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In 1917, a dance craze swept through the streets of New York City, prompting reformers to launch a campaign against tango bars and the “Tango Pirates” that preyed upon lonely middle-aged women. When a married woman was found strangled to death in one of the city’s ritziest hotels after meeting an infamous Tango Pirate, it made front-page news and launched a full-on investigation into the seedy underbelly of Broadway.

Sources:

Barber, Donn Ed., “The New York Architect: A National Magazine” Vol. IV, (New York: The Harwell-Evans Company, July 1910).

Grimes, William. Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York, (New York: North Point Press, 2009).

“Fur Age: The International Fur Journal of Quality,” December 1919.

Knowles, Mark. The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances, (Jefferson: MacFarland & Company, 2009).

Landmarks Preservation Commission, Hotel Martinique, 5 May 1998. http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1983.pdf

Matallana, Andrea. “Eugenia Kelly and the Tango Pirates.” Andrea Matallana: Radio, Tango e Industrias Culturales. https://andreamatallana.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/eugenia-kelly-and-the-tango-pirates/

New York Board of Aldermen, Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York from April 3 to June 26, 1917, Vol. II.

People of the State of New York v Benjamin Sternberg (Trial #3319) (Grand Jury of Court of General Sessions of the Peace March 28, 1917). 

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In a real game of thrones, the Julio-Claudian family jostled for power throughout their century-long dynasty. The Roman Empire’s first hundred years featured stabbings, poisonings, beatings, and suicides. No one was safe and everything was fair game in a family that would do anything to win --and keep-- their power. And at the heart of this family of intrigue and betrayal, a woman. The most powerful woman in Roman history.

Sources:

Barrett, Anthony A., Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).

Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. (New York: Liveright Publishing Company, 2015).

Dio, Cassius. Rome: An Historical Narrative. Trans. Herbert Baldwin Foster, A.B. and Ph.D. (Troy: Pafraets Book Company, 1905)

Levine, Joshua. “The New, Nicer Nero.” Smithsonian Magazine, October 2020.

Mellor, Ronald, ed. From Augustus to Nero: The First Dynasty of Imperial Rome. (Michigan State University Press, 1990). 

Seutonius, Gaius Tranquillus. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. trans. Alexander Thomson (London: George Bell and Sons, 1909).

Southon, Emma. A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome. (New York: Abrams Press, 2021).

Tacitus, Gaius Cornelius. The Histories: Volumes I and II. trans. Henry Frowde (London: Clarendon Press, 1912).

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

If you recognize the name Fatty Arbuckle at all, it is likely in conjunction with Hollywood's greatest scandal. He's known as the man who raped and murdered an actress. And the woman he supposedly murdered is recognized solely as the girl raped by Fatty Arbuckle. All she is remembered for now is a bunch of lies and a single day that no one, to this day, even fully understands. This episode and the last are for her. These episodes are dedicated to finding the real Virginia Rappe and setting the truth straight about the Labor Day of 1921 that changed Hollywood forever.

Sources:

For a complete list of sources, visit 
https://www.oldbloodpodcast.com/post/episode-13-the-real-rappe-part-2

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

If you recognize the name Fatty Arbuckle at all, it is likely in conjunction with Hollywood's greatest scandal. He's known as the man who raped and murdered an actress. And the woman he supposedly murdered is recognized solely as the girl raped by Fatty Arbuckle. All she is remembered for now is a bunch of lies and a single day that no one, to this day, even fully understands. This episode and the next are for her. These episodes are dedicated to finding the real Virginia Rappe and setting the truth straight about the Labor Day of 1921 that changed Hollywood forever.

Sources:

Callahan, Vicki. "Joan Myers on 'The Search for Virginia Rappe in Film History'.” Vicki Callahan, July 1, 2009. http://www.vickicallahan.com/interviews/interview-with-joan-myers-the-search-for-virginia-rappe-in-film-history/

"Doctors Tell Bruises at Arbuckle Inquest." The Los Angeles Herald, September 14, 1921.

Fischer, Elizabeth (2004) "The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century,"

Constructing the Past: Vol. 5 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol5/iss1/5

Kennard, K. Sellars, "Rupture of the Female Urinary Bladder." in The Medico-legal Journal. Vol. 39-40 (New York: A. W. Herzog, 1922.), p. 71-77.

Merritt, Greg. Room 1219: The Life of Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal that Changed Hollywood. (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013.)

Myers, Joan. "The Case of the Vanishing Juror." Feminism 3.0 Praxis and Archives, 2009. https://www.feminismthreepointzero.com/?page_id=33

Soares, Andre. "Fatty Arbuckle Virginia Rappe Trial: Researcher Joan Myers Discusses Scandal." Thinking Film, 2007. https://www.altfg.com/film/fatty-arbuckle-virginia-rappe/

"Spite Work: The Trials of Virginia Rappe and Fatty Arbuckle." https://peoplevsarbuckle.com/blog/

Stans, Lea. "A Closer Look–And Different Perspective–On The “Arbuckle Scandal.” Silentology, September 15, 2021. https://silentology.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/a-closer-look-and-different-perspective-on-the-arbuckle-scandal/

Stans, Lea. "The “Arbuckle Scandal” Turns 100–Some Facts And Trivia." Silentology, September 10, 2021. https://silentology.wordpress.com/2021/09/10/the-arbuckle-scandal-turns-100-some-facts-and-trivia/

Stans, Lea. "What Happened To Virginia Rappe?–Featuring A Q&A With Tracey Goessel." Silentology, September 21, 2021. https://silentology.wordpress.com/2021/09/21/what-happened-to-virginia-rappe-featuring-a-qa-with-tracey-goessel/

“Virginia Blamed Lover, Says Nurse.”Ludington Daily News, September 13, 1921. 

Whitehead, Aaron T., "The “Fatty” Arbuckle Scandal, Will Hays, and Negotiated Morality in 1920s America" (2015). http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1469

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

The Bastendorffs’ home was considered one of the few respectable boarding homes in Victorian London...until the discovery of a corpse unleashed a sex scandal and murder mystery that has still gone unsolved. Who would want to murder the quirky, old Matilda Hacker? And how had no one discovered her corpse for so long?

Sources:

Gamber, Wendy. “Boarding and Lodging Houses.” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 2017. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/boarding-and-lodging-houses/

Gamber, Wendy. The Boardinghouse in Nineteenth-Century America. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

Graham, Ruth. “Boardinghouses: Where the city  was born.” Boston Globe, January 13, 2013. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/13/boardinghouses-where-city-was-born/Hpstvjt0kj52ZMpjUOM5RJ/story.html

Griffiths, Arthur. Victorian Murders: Mysteries of Police & Crime. (Charleston: The History Press, 2010).

“HANNAH DOBBS.” The Proceedings of the Old Bailey: London’s Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913. Old Bailey Online, June 30, 1879.

Hester, Jessica. “A Brief History of Co-Living Spaces.” Bloomburg CityLab, February 22, 2016. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-22/a-brief-history-of-co-living-spaces-from-19th-century-boarding-houses-to-millennial-compounds

Kohn, Kari. “Boardinghouses of Yesterday and What they Mean for Today.” NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, December 30, 2013. https://marroninstitute.nyu.edu/blog/boardinghouses-of-yesterday-and-what-they-mean-for-today

McKay, Sinclair. The Lady in the Cellar: Murder, Scandal and Insanity in Victorian Bloomsbury. (London: White Lion Publishing, 2018).

The Merthyr Telegraph. May 30, 1879.

Monmouthshire Merlin. December 12, 1879.

O’Neill, Joseph. The Secret World of the Victorian Lodging House. (Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2014).

“SIWERIN BASTENDORF.” The Proceedings of the Old Bailey: London’s Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913. Old Bailey Online, November 24, 1879.

South Wales Daily News, May 22, 1879.

South Wales Daily News, November 10, 1879.

The Western Mail. May 19, 1879.

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

John "Liver-Eating" Johnston was one of the  "mountain men" who explored the American Northwest in the mid to late 1800s. Like the other "mountain men," Liver-Eating Johnston had his fair share of battles with the Native Americans who were defending their land. Unlike the other "mountain men," Johnston supposedly ate the livers of hundreds of natives he had killed. It was only recently that we learned this wasn't exactly true, but in Johnston's case, the truth might just be more horrifying than the fiction.

Sources:

The Anaconda Standard, February 11, 1900. 

Bellows, Alan. “Liver-Eating Johnson.” Damn Interesting. Damn Interesting, January 21, 2020. https://www.damninteresting.com/liver-eating-johnson/. 

Bunker, Robert, and Raymond Thorp. Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson. New ed. Indiana University Press, 2016.

“Woodhawks.”The Flathead Courier, May 12, 1927. 

French, Brett, and Dave Shors. “The Legend of Liver-Eating Johnson Keeps Getting Taller.” Billings Gazette, August 24, 2017. https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/the-legend-of-liver-eating-johnson-keeps-getting-taller/article_7864cffc-afe4-5adf-8403-dbad9fe37450.html.

The Helena Independent, May 7, 1893. 

Herda, D. J.. The Never-Ending Lives of Liver-Eating Johnson. (Helena: Twodot, 2019).

Langford, Nathaniel Pitt. Vigilante Days and Ways: the Pioneers of the Rockies. (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1912).

Maccar, David. “The True Story Behind 'Jeremiah Johnson': What We Know (and Don't).” Free Range American, September 14, 2021. https://freerangeamerican.us/true-story-jeremiah-johnson/.

McLellan, Dennis. The Avenging Fury of the Plains: John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. (Mountain Man Tales Publishing Co., 2021).

“Noted Pioneer Dead.” Red Lodge Picket, February 2, 1900. 

Rasmussen, Cecilia. "Trailing a Wild West Character to his Graves." Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2005. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-21-me-then21-story.html

“The Real Jeremiah Johnson.” Notes from the Frontier, April 7, 2021. https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/the-the-real-jeremiah-johnson.

Western Kansas World, October 12, 1889. 

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

By 1793, radical revolutionaries had unleashed a wave of bloodshed that threatened to swallow France whole. Charlotte Corday travels to Paris to wrestle with the mastermind of this reign of terror, Jean-Paul Marat.

Sources:

For a complete list of sources, please visit https://www.oldbloodpodcast.com/post/episode-9-the-terror-july

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com