Spirits with Crime

A confession should settle a case. But what happens when the confession becomes the question?

This week on Spirits with Crime, we continue one of the most controversial cases in modern true crime, following the interrogation of Brendan Dassey, the trial that followed, and the legal battle that forced unsettling questions about suggestion, memory, and whether a story can be shaped in real time.

The conclusion of this case will absolutely have you reeling, and questioning when a confession reflects truth and when might it reflect pressure instead. Cheers!

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Sources: https://famous-trials.com/avery/2749-dasseyconfession

https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/03/false-confessions

https://famous-trials.com/avery/2749-dasseyconfession

https://www.wicourts.gov

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-confessions/

https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/

https://www.workwithkz.com/

https://apnews.com/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/

Making a Murderer Netflix Docuseries

What if the most convincing part of a case… isn’t actually the truth? We trust confessions. We rely on them, and sometimes we build entire cases around them.

But what happens when a confession isn’t as solid as it seems?

In this Part 1 of 2 episodes of Spirits with Crime, we explore a case that sits at the center of that question. A question where perception, pressure, and a carefully constructed narrative may have shaped something far more fragile than it appears. And it all starts with one man and his family. Cheers!

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Sources: https://www.doj.state.wi.us/

https://innocenceproject.org/cases/steven-avery/

https://www.wicourts.gov/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/

https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1258&context=cplpej

https://www.reddit.com/r/MakingaMurderer/comments/43m92u/did_gene_kusche_actually_trace_steven_averys/

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=300

https://wislawjournal.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/us/dna-frees-wisconsin-man-after-18-years.html

What would it take for you to believe in fairies? In 1917, two young girls from a small village in Yorkshire answered that question for the entire world, with a camera. 

This week, we’re diving into the story of the Cottingley Fairies; the picture that captivated Arthur Conan Doyle and a grief-stricken post-war world. We’re also getting into the dark side of fairy folklore that nobody talks about, and why the need to believe in something magical might be one of the most human things there is. 

Grab your favorite elderflower mix and meet me by the stream. Cheers!

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Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Fairies-of-Cottingley/

https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/cottingleys-scientific-fairies-and-enchanting-technology/

https://photographyproject.uk/research/elsie-wright-the-cottingley-fairies-a-great-photographic-hoax/

https://medium.com/university-of-leeds/the-cottingley-fairies-a-study-in-deception-2ab08b8cafb0

https://qz.com/911990/the-cottingley-fairy-hoax-of-1917-is-a-case-study-in-how-smart-people-lose-control-of-the-truth

https://library.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/1000/library/132/fooled-by-fairies

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-cottingley-fairies-a-study-in-deception-leeds-university-library-galleries/lgVB6Ceti9WVAw

https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Coming_of_the_Fairies

https://www.realyorkshireblog.com/post/the-cottingley-fairies-the-photographs-that-fooled-the-world-for-60-years

https://allthatsinteresting.com/changeling

https://longreads.com/2018/06/08/fairy-scapegoats-a-history-of-the-persecution-of-changeling-children/

https://folklorethursday.com/folktales/unchanging-appeal-changelings/

https://britishfairies.wordpress.com/2017/03/23/changelings-fairy-thefts-of-human-children/

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/history-elder-tree-deities-dryads-shakespeare-j-k-rowling-197720

https://britishfairies.wordpress.com/2019/02/17/fairies-and-elder-trees/

https://seedsistas.co.uk/2023/11/24/myth-magic-and-folklore-of-the-elder-tree/

https://wildhunt.org/2020/02/column-faery-lore-of-the-elder-tree.html

What happens when belief in the paranormal collides with the law… and someone pays the price?

In this episode of Spirits with Crime, we're heading to England for two stories separated by nearly two hundred years, but connected by the same unsettling question: how much does belief cost?

First, we travel to Hammersmith, where an entire village became convinced a ghost was stalking their streets. Then we jump to 1994, and one of the strangest legal scandals in British courtroom history. 

Two cases. Two very different consequences. Grab your favorite drink and join me in these ghostly proceedings. Cheers!

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Sources: https://punchdrink.com/recipes/smoking-bishop/

https://list25.com/100-creepy-mysteries-that-will-make-your-skin-crawl/

https://theanxiousadult.com/15-urban-legends-people-doubted-until-proof-showed-up/

https://www.meshpedia.com/eerie-mysteries-the-most-haunted-unsolved-cases-in-history/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/angelaandaloro/true-crimes-solved-over-20-years-later

https://nofspodcast.com/10-terrifying-real-life-ghost-stories-that-defy-rational-explanation

https://listverse.com/2024/01/06/10-unusual-pieces-of-evidence-that-helped-solve-murder-cases/

https://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/searchingandexamining.html

https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-stories/are-ghosts-real-a-serious-case-study-on-the-science-of-hauntings/

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/true-crime-science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal

https://kustomsignals.com/blog/four-cold-cases-solved-years-after-the-crime

Welcome back, haunted friends. Today's episode begins with every Final Girl's nightmare- a voice on the radio.

In 1947, ships passing through the Strait of Malacca picked up a chilling transmission. When rescuers finally boarded the vessel, they found a scene no one ever could have expected. This week we are diving into one of the most unsettling maritime mysteries ever recorded. The story of the SS Ourang Medan.

Grab a drink and get comfortable, because we're heading out to sea. Cheers!

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Sources: https://creamandamber.com/book/9781728271569

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unsolved-mysteries/id1549903604

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ourang_Medan

https://navalhistoria.com/the-mysterious-case-of-the-ss-ourang-medan/

https://skittishlibrary.co.uk/the-myth-of-the-ourang-medan-ghost-ship-1940/

https://theghostinmymachine.com/2020/04/20/unresolved-what-happened-to-the-ourang-medan-did-it-exist-at-all-ghost-ship/

https://vocal.media/fyi/faces-of-terror-the-ss-ourang-medan

https://leifericksonwriting.com/ss-ourang-medan/

http://captainstableblog.com/the-terrifying-mystery-of-the-ss-ourang-medan/

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80r01731r000300010043-5

What if the luckiest day of your life was actually the beginning of the end? This week on Spirits with Crime, we're diving into the strange, fascinating, and sometimes deadly world of luck.

In 2006, Florida day laborer Abraham Shakespeare won thirty million dollars in the lottery, and reportedly said almost immediately that he wished he hadn't. What followed was a story of generosity exploited, trust weaponized, and a woman who inserted herself into his life, his finances, and eventually, the investigation into his own disappearance.

If this episode resonates with you, we'd love it if you followed the show and shared it with someone or left a review. Cheers!

Have a story of your own to share? Send it to [email protected].

Find us on Instagram and Threads at @spiritswithcrimepodcast.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_Club_cocktail

https://philly.thedrinknation.com/articles/read/5731-The-Clover-Club-Phillys-Original-Cocktail

https://vintageamericancocktails.com/clover-club-cocktail-recipe/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-84929-5

https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2025/01/the-hot-hand-and-the-gamblers-fallacy-why-our-brains-struggle-to-believe-in-randomness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisreog

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony

https://www.ngpf.org/blog/question-of-the-day/question-of-the-day-what-percent-of-lottery-winners-eventually-go-bankrupt/

https://www.nefe.org/news/2018/01/research-statistic-on-financial-windfalls-and-bankruptcy.aspx

https://timharford.com/2023/05/does-winning-the-lottery-actually-ruin-your-life/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Abraham_Shakespeare

https://abcnews.com/US/lottery-murder-deedee-moore-found-guilty/story?id=17926009

https://abcnews.com/US/lottery-winners-convicted-killer-speaks-bars/story?id=120595169

https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2022-03-02/woman-who-murdered-a-30-million-lottery-winner-backs-a-bill-to-shield-jackpot-winners-identities

https://www.oxygen.com/buried-in-the-backyard/crime-news/abraham-shakespeare-killed-after-winning-lottery

What do mermaids, museums, and nineteenth-century showmanship have in common?

More than you might think.

This week on Spirits with Crime, we step back into the strange and fascinating world of nineteenth-century exhibitions, where crowds gathered to witness curiosities that blurred the line between fact and fiction. At the center of it all was one man who understood something powerful about human nature: people love a good spectacle.

But when does entertainment cross the line into deception?

In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of P. T. Barnum, the showman behind some of the most famous attractions of the era, like the history behind the famous Feejee Mermaid hoax and the strange world of the Barnum American Museum.

So grab your favorite drink, settle in, and join me as we explore one of the most curious chapters in the history of spectacle. Cheers!

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Sources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/P-T-Barnum

https://connecticuthistory.org/phineas-taylor-barnum/

https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/p-t-barnum

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-invented-show-business-180958098/

https://connecticuthistory.org/joice-heth/

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/joice-heth

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/feejee-mermaid-and-other-hoaxes-p-t-barnum-180962624/

https://connecticuthistory.org/p-t-barnums-american-museum/

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/mermaids/feejee-mermaid

https://connecticuthistory.org/general-tom-thumb/

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/449

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Greatest-Showman

Have you ever gone looking for something weird… just to see what would happen?

In 2020, an app started trending that promised adventure through randomness. You set an intention. It sends you coordinates. You go exploring.

But what happens when curiosity collides with real tragedy?

This week on Spirits with Crime, we’re diving into intention, coincidence, and our very human need to believe that randomness means something. We’ll explore the cultural obsession with manifestation, the science of pattern-seeking, and the unsettling moment when a digital scavenger hunt turned into something very real. Was it fate? Or just the uncomfortable truth that when you drop enough pins on a map, eventually one of them will land somewhere you wish it hadn’t?

Do you believe intention can shape reality? Or is randomness just randomness?

Cheers!

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Sources: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546800042000015

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Secret-by-Byrne

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6898789-the-power

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-purpose/201910/why-we-see-meaning-in-random-events

https://www.randonautica.com/faq

https://qrng.anu.edu.au/

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53189298

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-difference-between-random-and-pseudo-random/

https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2020/06/23/update-in-west-seattle-double-homicide-investigation/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/landlord-charged-in-west-seattle-suitcase-murders/

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/

https://www.king5.com/

Hello, haunted friends, welcome to another episode of Spirits with Crime!

In today’s episode of Spirits with Crime, we’re heading somewhere slightly unexpected: outer space. No murders. No courtroom drama. No suspects.

The Wow! Signal is one of the most intriguing anomalies in modern scientific history; a strange signal detected in 1977 that lasted just over a minute… and a single handwritten reaction that somehow became bigger than the signal itself.

What’s a story you only remember because of one tiny detail?

Leave a comment, rate the episode, or drop a review! Cheers!

Send Me a Story! @ [email protected]

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Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow%21_signal

https://www.astronomyhouston.org/newsletters/guidestar/wow-signal-0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow%21_signal

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/search-for-life/that-mysterious-wow-signal-from-space-scientists-may-finally-know-where-it-came-from-and-its-probably-not-aliens

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-wow-signal-seti-mystery-might-at-last-be-solved/

https://earthsky.org/space/wow-signal-explained-comets-antonio-paris/

https://www.seti.org/news/the-wow-signal-a-lingering-mystery-or-a-natural-phenomenon/

Happy Valentine’s Day, haunted friends! Whether you’re clinking glasses with your soulmate, side-eyeing the prix fixe menu, or aggressively ignoring every heart-shaped object in a five-mile radius, today’s episode is for you.

In this Valentine’s Day episode, we’re unpacking love as entitlement, and what happens when the belief that someone is “meant for you” turns dangerous. We’ll trace the soulmate myth from ancient philosophy to modern marketing, look at how Valentine’s Day became a billion-dollar performance of destiny, and explore the psychology behind rejection, attachment, and ego injury.

And then… we’re diving into the tea. Specifically, the story of Twin Flames Universe: an online spiritual organization that promised divine counterparts, eternal union, and absolute certainty in love.

This episode isn’t about mocking hope. It’s about understanding how deeply human vulnerability can be leveraged.

And when you’re done listening, I want to hear from you:

Do you believe in soulmates?

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Sources: https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Symposium-by-Plato

https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43927/the-parlement-of-foules

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lupercalia

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-valentines-day-180968156/

https://corporate.hallmark.com/about/history/

https://www.netflix.com/title/81645170

https://www.amazon.com/Desperately-Seeking-Soulmate-Escaping-Flames/dp/B0C9Y8V9SZ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Flames_Universe

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/12/inside-the-twin-flames-universe

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz7be/twin-flames-universe-jeff-and-shaleia

https://www.michigan.gov/ag/news