Old Blood

Jean-Paul Marat terrorized France with his newspaper long before the most famous period of the French Revolution known as the Terror. By September of 1792, Marat and his allies’ calls for heads led to four days of unimaginable horror and bloodshed. 

Sources:

Please see https://www.oldbloodpodcast.com/post/episode-8-the-terror-september for a complete list of sources.

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

Newly widowed women began to fill the streets of 17th century Rome. This prompted an investigation into their late husbands’ deaths that would uncover a legendary poison that struck fear in the hearts of abusive husbands everywhere. For over 350 years, the poison Aqua Tofana has been linked to the infamous Giulia Tofana, who confessed to killing over 600 men. But how much of this is actually true?  

Sources:

Barker, Sheila. “The Art of Poison.” The Florentine, September 4, 2008. https://www.theflorentine.net/2008/09/04/the-art-of-poison/. 

Bisset, Andrew. Essays on Historical Truth. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1871. 

Carlton, Genevieve. “Meet The Woman Who Poisoned Makeup To Help Over 600 Women Murder Their Husbands.” Medium, March 2, 2018. https://medium.com/@editors_91459/meet-the-woman-who-poisoned-makeup-to-help-over-600-women-murder-their-husbands-cfb03929c36d. 

Cooper, Alexia, and Erica L Smith. “Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010.” U.S. Department of Justice, November 2011. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf. 

Dash, Mike. “Aqua Tofana: Slow-Poisoning and Husband-Killing in 17th Century Italy.” A Blast from the Past, April 6, 2015. https://mikedashhistory.com/2015/04/06/aqua-tofana-slow-poisoning-and-husband-killing-in-17th-century-italy/. 

Elhassan, Khalid. “History’s Most Prolific and Deadly Female Poisoner Helped Women Get Rid of Their Husbands.” History Collection, April 18, 2019. https://historycollection.com/historys-most-prolific-and-deadly-female-poisoner-helped-women-get-rid-of-their-husbands/3/. 

Hayes, A. Wallace, and Claire L Kruger, eds. Hayes’ Principles and Methods of Toxicology. 6th ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2014. 

“La Leggenda Dell’Acqua Tofana e La Vera Storia Delle Donne Che La Crearono.” Fiore Avvelenato, December 15, 2019. https://fioreavvelenato.com/2019/12/15/leggenda-acqua-tofana-vera-storia-donne/. 

Mackay, Charles. Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. 1. Vol. 1. London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, 1852. 

McKennett, Hannah. “Meet Giulia Tofana: The 17th-Century Professional Poisoner Said To Have Killed 600 Men.” All That's Interesting, June 1, 2020. https://allthatsinteresting.com/giulia-tofana. 

Millar, Judy. “The Woman Whose ‘Cosmetics’ Poisoned Over 600 Unwanted Husbands.” History of Yesterday, August 25, 2020. https://historyofyesterday.com/the-woman-whose-cosmetics-poisoned-over-600-unwanted-husbands-f14456cd8dfa. 

Monson, Craig A. The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous Poisoners. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020. 

Zheng, Shannon. “This Woman’s Side Hustle Killed over 600 Abusive Husbands in 17th Century Italy.” The Tempest, September 4, 2020. https://thetempest.co/2020/09/04/history/giulia-tofana-professional-poisoner/. 

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

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Show Notes

Episode 6 - Crippen

In 1910, London police discovered human remains underneath the home of a homeopathic doctor. The discovery of the mutilated, decapitated, and deboned corpse ignited a trans-Atlantic manhunt for the suspect they believed guilty of the murder. With the suspect finally caught and executed, London authorities considered the case solved. Yet the evidence never added up to the police’s version of events, leaving everyone who read about the murder with tons of questions. Those interested in the case hoped that a 2007 DNA test would finally provide the answers people have been asking for the past 100 years, but the test results left everyone more confused--and shocked-- than they were before. 

Sources:

Bovsun, Mara. “A Question of Murder.” NY Daily News. Tribune Publishing, November 11, 2007. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/question-murder-article-1.258108. 

Connell, Nicholas. Doctor Crippen The Infamous London Cellar Murder of 1910. Amberley Publishing, 2013. 

“Dr Crippen Murder: Chamber of Horror.” The Unredacted. The Unredacted, February 21, 2018. https://theunredacted.com/dr-crippen-murder-chamber-of-horror/. 

“Hawley Harvey Crippen.” The Proceedings of the Old Bailey: London's Central Criminal Court, 1674-1913, n.d. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t19101011-74. 

Hodgson, Martin. “100 Years on, DNA Casts Doubt on Crippen Case.” The Guardian. Guardian News & Media, October 16, 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/oct/17/ukcrime.science. 

Foran, David R, Beth E Wills, Brianne M Kiley, John H Trestail, and Carrie B Jackson. “Case Report Criminalistics. The Conviction of Dr. Crippen: New Forensic Findings in a Century-Old Murder.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2010. 

Larson, Erik. Thunderstruck. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. 

Waffinden, Bob. “Mutilating the Evidence.” The Oldie. Oldie Publications, May 30, 2019. https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/mutilating-the-evidence.

“Was Dr Crippen Innocent of His Wife's Murder?” BBC. BBC, July 29, 2010. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-10802059. 

Young, Filson, ed. The Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen. Glasgow: William Hodge & Company, Ltd., 1920. 

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

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Show Notes

Episode 5 - The Women of Alexandria

Raya and Sakina have become legends in Egypt, infamous for being the sisters who murdered the sex workers of Alexandria and burying them underneath their homes. Parents will no longer give their children the names “Raya” and “Sakina,” fearing they are cursed. Egyptians tell misbehaving children that the sisters will come for them if they don’t do as they’re told. But do the sisters deserve this infamy? And if they don’t, then who were the real serial killers of Alexandria in 1920?

Sources:

Al-Hefnawy, Marwa. “Stinging Sisters.” Arab News. Saudi Research & Publishing Company, May 31, 2007. https://www.arabnews.com/node/299048. 

Awad, Mohamed. “The Metamorphosis of Mansheyah.” Edited by Hannah Davis Taieb and Kenneth Brown. Alexandria in Egypt, 1996. 

Bizawe, Eyal Sagui. “Sisters Without Mercy: Behind Egypt's Most Infamous Murder Case.” Haaretz. Haaretz Daily Newspaper, December 27, 2014. https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-sisters-without-mercy-1.5352259. 

Chiti, Elena. “Building a National Case in Interwar Egypt: Raya and Sakina's Crimes through the Pages of Al-Ahrām (Fall 1920).” History Compass, February 15, 2020. 

Esquire Staff. “New Series 'The Alexandria Killings' to Profile Egypt’s Most Notorious Serial Killers.” Esquire Middle East. ITP Media Group, April 20, 2021. https://www.esquireme.com/content/52037-egypts-most-notorious-serial-killers-raya-and-sakina-tv-series-the-alexandria-killings. 

Mahmoud, Rasha. “Alexandria’s France Street Still Living in Its Golden Age.” Al-Monitor. Al-Monitor, November 2, 2017. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2017/11/france-st-reflects-alexandias-rich-heritage.htm. 

Moger, Robin. “An Excerpt from the Men of Raya and Sakina.” Jadaliyya. Jadaliyya, May 4, 2020. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41064. 

Mustafa, Marie. “'Raya We Sakina Min Tani' Launches on Aug. 13 in Alexandria.” Egypt Today, August 14, 2019. https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/73863/Raya-we-Sakina-min-tani-launches-on-Aug-13-in. 

Rizk, Yunan Labib. “The Women Killers.” Al-Ahram Weekly, no. 434 (June 1999). 

St. Estephe. “Raya & Sekina Aly Hammam, Egyptian Serial Killing Sisters - 1920.” Unknown Gender History, February 8, 2015. https://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/2011/09/raya-sakina-ablel-al-egyptian-serial.html. 

Takla, Nefertiti Mary. “Murder in Alexandria: The Gender, Sexual and Class Politics of Criminality in Egypt, 1914 - 1921,” 2016. 

“THE FITUWA: SALAH EISSA’S RAYA AND SAKINA IN ROBIN MOGER’S TRANSLATION.” The Sultan's Seal, February 3, 2018. https://sultansseal.com/2018/02/03/the-fituwa-salah-eissas-raya-and-sakina-in-robin-mogers-translation/. 

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

When Mary Blandy fell in love with a Scottish nobleman in 1747, she had no idea that in just a few years, her father would be murdered and she would find herself at the center of an international scandal.

Sources:

Jenkin, Anna. “Perceptions of the Murderess in London and Paris, 1674-1789,” 2015.

Rivington, John and James. The Tryal of Mary Blandy, Spinster For the Murder of Her Father, Francis Blandy, Gent. at the Assizes Held at Oxford for the County of Oxford, on Saturday the 29th of February, 1752, 1752.

Roughead, William, ed. Trial of Mary Blandy, 1914.

Walker, Garthine. “Imagining the Unimaginable: Parricide in Early Modern England and Wales, C.1600–C.1760.” Journal of Family History 41, no. 3 (2016): 271–93.

Watkin, Amy. “Women Who Should Be Pretty Pissed OFF: Mary Blandy: The O.J. Simpson of the 18th Century.” McSweeney's Internet Tendency, April 29, 2016. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/mary-blandy-the-oj-simpson-of-the-18th-century.

“What Was The 'Bloody Code'?” National Justice Museum. National Justice Museum, 2019. https://www.nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk/museum/news/what-was-the-bloody-code.

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

Visit https://www.oldbloodpodcast.com for more information.

Episode 3 - Ruby McCollum 

It is 1952 in Florida, the heart of Jim Crow. A black woman walks into a white doctor's office and shoots the doctor dead. But why? And who is the real victim in this murder?

Sources:

Cross, LaToya. “New Documentary Revisits Jim Crow-Era Shooting.” Jet Mag. Associated Press, January 2, 2015. https://www.jetmag.com/entertainment/jim-crow-era-shooting-revisited-new-documentary/.

McCollum v. State (Supreme Court of Florida July 20, 1954).

Saltzman, Hilary, Jude Hagin, and Kitty Potapow. You Belong to Me: Sex, Race, and Murder in the South. United States: Hummingbird Film Productions, 2014.

“Silenced: the Story of Ruby Mccollum.” Ocala Style Magazine, February 9, 2015. https://www.ocalastyle.com/silenced-the-story-of-ruby-mccollum/.

Thompson-Miller, Ruth. “The Trial of Ruby McCollum the Consequences of Trauma: Segregation Stress Syndrome.” Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education, July 24, 2017. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/the-trial-of-ruby-mccollum-the-consequences-of-trauma-segregation-stresssyndrome-2161-0711-1000538.php?aid=91600.

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

In part 2 of the Leopold and Loeb murder case, Nathan and Richard scramble to cover up their murder of Bobby Franks, leading to a national debate over emotional maturity and the death penalty. While psychologists study the murderers, Americans obsess over their psychopathy, and the world’s most famous defense attorney prepares for “the trial of the century.”

Sources:

1924: Leopold and Loeb. The Chicago Historical Homicide Project. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://homicide.northwestern.edu/crimes/leopold/. 

“The Leopold-Loeb Case: Biographies of Key Figures.” CrimeArchives. http://www.crimearchives.net/1924_leopold_loeb/html/bios.html. 

Barrett, Nina. Leopold and Loeb: 90 Years Later, Finding the Truth. CrimeReads. (2018, August 1)https://crimereads.com/leopold-and-loeb-90-years-later-finding-the-truth/. 

deFord, Miriam Allen. Superman's Crime: Loeb and Leopold in True Crime: An American Anthology. Edited by Harold Schechter. New York, NY: The Library of America, 2008. pages 557-577.

Hoermann, Simone, Ph.D., Corinne E. Zupanick, Psy.D., & Mark Dombeck, Ph.D. DSM-5: The Ten Personality Disorders: Cluster A. MentalHelp.net https://www.mentalhelp.net/personality-disorders/cluster-a/

Linder, Douglas O. “Leopold and Loeb.” Famous Trials. UMKC School of Law. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://famous-trials.com/leopoldandloeb.

Lybarger, Jeremy. “Reopening the Case Files of Leopold and Loeb.” The Paris Review, July 26, 2018. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/26/reopening-the-case-files-of-leopold-and-loeb/. 

 O'Connell, Cathleen, director. The Perfect Crime. PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/perfectcrime/.  

Sellers, Alvin Victor. The Leopold Loeb Case: With Excerpts from the Evidence of the Alienists and Including the Arguments to the Court by Counsel for the People and for the Defense. Brunswick, GA: Classic Publishing Co., 1926. 

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

In Chicago in 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb abducted and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks. The murder ignited a national backlash against what they saw as a morally bankrupt Jazz Age, and a furor over the two wealthy, psychopathic murderers who killed an innocent child just for the thrill of it. This is part 1 of the 2 episodes that cover “the Trial of the Century.”

Sources:

1924: Leopold and Loeb. The Chicago Historical Homicide Project. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://homicide.northwestern.edu/crimes/leopold/. 

“The Leopold-Loeb Case: Biographies of Key Figures.” CrimeArchives. http://www.crimearchives.net/1924_leopold_loeb/html/bios.html. 

Barrett, Nina. Leopold and Loeb: 90 Years Later, Finding the Truth. CrimeReads. (2018, August 1)https://crimereads.com/leopold-and-loeb-90-years-later-finding-the-truth/. 

deFord, Miriam Allen. Superman's Crime: Loeb and Leopold in True Crime: An American Anthology. Edited by Harold Schechter. New York, NY: The Library of America, 2008. pages 557-577.

Hoermann, Simone, Ph.D., Corinne E. Zupanick, Psy.D., & Mark Dombeck, Ph.D. DSM-5: The Ten Personality Disorders: Cluster A. MentalHelp.net https://www.mentalhelp.net/personality-disorders/cluster-a/

Linder, Douglas O. “Leopold and Loeb.” Famous Trials. UMKC School of Law. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://famous-trials.com/leopoldandloeb.

Lybarger, Jeremy. “Reopening the Case Files of Leopold and Loeb.” The Paris Review, July 26, 2018. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/26/reopening-the-case-files-of-leopold-and-loeb/. 

 O'Connell, Cathleen, director. The Perfect Crime. PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/perfectcrime/.  

Sellers, Alvin Victor. The Leopold Loeb Case: With Excerpts from the Evidence of the Alienists and Including the Arguments to the Court by Counsel for the People and for the Defense. Brunswick, GA: Classic Publishing Co., 1926. 

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