Before CSI, before DNA, before forensic teams filled our screens - there was Sir Bernard Spilsbury.

The man who made science the star witness and turned the pathologist into a courtroom celebrity.

In this Dee-Brief, Dee revisits the life and legacy of the 'People’s Pathologist' - a brilliant, controversial figure whose work helped convict murderers like Dr Crippen and George Joseph Smith (the 'Brides in the Bath' killer).

A story of genius, ego, and the price of infallibility - from the man who taught Britain how to read the dead.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

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Sources 

• Andrew Rose, Lethal Witness: Sir Bernard Spilsbury – The Truth Behind a Hundred Years of Solved Crimes (2007)
  

• Colin Evans, The Father of Forensics (2014)
  

• Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat (2010)
  

• The Times (1910–1947) – contemporary case reporting
  

• The Lancet – obituary, December 1947
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #BernardSpilsbury #ForensicHistory #Pathology #OperationMincemeat #DarkHistory #DrCrippen #BridesInTheBath #TrueCrimeCommunity #BritishHistory #PodcastShowNotes

This week, Dee turns the piano up to eleven for a wild ride through the life of Jerry Lee Lewis - the rock’n’roll prodigy known as The Killer.

A piano-pounding genius who inspired Elvis and scandalised the world, Jerry Lee’s story is one of gospel and guilt, sin and salvation - and enough scandal to fill a dozen tabloid front pages.

We trace his meteoric rise from the cotton fields of Louisiana to Sun Records, the hits that shook the 1950s ('Great Balls of Fire' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On'), and the personal chaos that almost destroyed him.

Was Jerry Lee Lewis a rock’n’roll pioneer or a walking cautionary tale? As he once said himself, 'There’s a difference between a sinner and a criminal. I might be both.'

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

📚 Sources

• Los Angeles Times – 'Jerry Lee Lewis Dies at 87' (2022)
  

• The Guardian – 'Jerry Lee Lewis: A Life of Sin, Salvation, and Scandal' (2022)
  

• Rolling Stone – 'The Untold Story of Jerry Lee Lewis’s Fifth Wife’s Mysterious Death' (2014)
  

• Rick Bragg, Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story (HarperCollins, 2014)
  

• BBC News – 'Jerry Lee Lewis – Rock’n’Roll’s Wildest Star' (Obituary, 2022)
  

• New York Times Archive – 'Singer’s Teenage Wife Rocks Britain' (1958)
  

• People Magazine – 'The Killer’s Trail of Tragedy' (1984)
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #JerryLeeLewis #RocknRollHistory #DarkHistory #MusicScandal #TheKiller #GreatBallsOfFire #50sMusic #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes

Just before Christmas 1988, 22-year-old photographer Lorraine Benson vanished after leaving her work party in South London. The next morning, her body was found near Raynes Park station - beaten and strangled.

As police raced to catch a killer, they uncovered chilling links to a string of sexual assaults along the same commuter line. What followed would make history: Lorraine’s murder became the first ever solved by DNA profiling in the Metropolitan Police.

In this Dee-Brief, Dee revisits the case that changed forensic science forever - from the night Lorraine disappeared to the evidence that finally trapped her killer, 17-year-old John Dunne.

We explore the investigation, the impact on Lorraine’s family, and how one brutal crime reshaped policing in Britain.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

📚 Sources

• The Times (Feb 1989): Full text via Archive.org
  

• Mirror Online – Devastated dad of murdered photographer warns her killer will strike again if he is moved to open prison https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/devastated-dad-murdered-photographer-warns-8528418
  

• Office of Justice Programs – Murder in South London: A Novel Use of DNA Profiling https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/murder-south-london-novel-use-dna-profiling
  

• They Walk Among Us podcast (2023): Season 8, Episode 34
  

• Crime+Investigation UK – When Missing Turns to Murder https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/videos/devastating-moment-they-realised-their-daughter-was-dead-when-missing-turns-murder
  

• History by the Yard – DNA https://www.historybytheyard.co.uk/dna.htm
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #LorraineBenson #ForensicHistory #ColdCaseUK #SouthLondonCrime #RaynesPark #DNAProfiling #DarkHistory #WomenInCrime #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes

Ramon Abbas - better known as Hushpuppi - was one of Instagram’s flashiest influencers. Private jets, designer clothes, luxury cars... but behind all that Gucci was a global network of cybercrime.

In this Dee-Brief mini-episode, Dee traces Hushpuppi’s astonishing rise from poverty in Lagos to superstardom in Dubai - and his spectacular fall, when U.S. investigators and Dubai police uncovered that his fortune came from massive international fraud and money-laundering schemes.

By the time the 'Billionaire Gucci Master' was sentenced to 11 years in prison, his downfall had become a cautionary tale about greed, image, and the blurred lines between online fantasy and real-world crime.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian Man Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Launder Tens of Millions of Dollars from Online Scams  justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-man-sentenced-over-11-years-federal-prison-conspiring-launder-tens-millions

• U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian National Brought to U.S. to Face Charges of Conspiring to Launder Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Cybercrime Schemes  justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-national-brought-us-face-charges-conspiring-launder-hundreds-millions-dollars
  

• Al Jazeera, Nigerian Influencer ‘Hushpuppi’ Jailed in US for Money Laundering  aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/8/hushpuppi-gets-prison-term-for-money-laundering-conspiracy
  

• Business Insider, The Instagram-Fueled Rise and Fall of Nigerian Influencer Hushpuppi businessinsider.com/hushpuppi-instagram-rise-fall-nigerian-influencer-cyber-crime-ramon-abbas-2022-12
  

• VICE, ‘He Got Burnt’: How One of Instagram’s Biggest Fraudsters Was Brought Down  vice.com/en/article/hushpuppi-ramon-abbas-jailed
  

• BET News, Nigerian Influencer ‘Ray Hushpuppi’ Gets 11 Years In Prison For Money Laundering  bet.com/article/4etxi2/nigerian-influencer-ramon-abbas-gets-prison-sentence-money-laundering

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

A Christmas bonus mini! Dee revisits the real-life riddle that once gripped Britain: Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in December 1926. We trace Christie’s early life and rise to 'Queen of Mystery', the personal crises that preceded her vanishing, the nationwide manhunt (with Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers in the mix), her reappearance at Harrogate’s Swan Hydropathic Hotel under the name 'Mrs. Teresa Neele'… and the theories that still swirl: amnesia, nervous collapse, publicity stunt, or something else?

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

• Robert New - 'The Disappearance of the Best-Ever Selling Author' (2021): https://robertsnew.com/2021/11/11/the-disappearance-of-the-best-ever-selling-author/
  

• Historic UK - 'The Curious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Curious-Disappearance-of-Agatha-Christie/
  

• Wikipedia - The Mysterious Affair at Styles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles
  

• Wikipedia - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd
  

• National Geographic - 'Why did Agatha Christie go missing? Four theories': https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/agatha-christie-mystery-disappearance-theories
  

• Old Swan Hotel - 'The Agatha Christie Connection': https://theoldswanhotel.co.uk/the-agatha-christie-connection/
  

• HistoryExtra - 'The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/agatha-christie-disappearance-mystery-facts-poirot-miss-marple-detective/
  

• AgathaChristie.com - 'Book of the Month: Murder on the Orient Express': https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2017/book-of-the-month-murder-on-the-orient-express
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #AgathaChristie #Harrogate #OldSwanHotel #NewlandsCorner #MysteryHistory #DarkHistory #WomenInPublishing #CrimeFiction #PodcastShowNotes

📚 Sources

This week on Dee-Brief, Dee explores one of Indonesia’s most horrifying true-crime cases - the story of Ahmad Suradji, the so-called Black Magic Killer.

For over a decade, Suradji was a respected dukun - a traditional healer - in North Sumatra. Villagers sought his help for love, fortune, and healing. But behind that reputation lay an unimaginable secret: between 1986 and 1997 he murdered 42 women and girls in ritual killings he believed would grant him mystical power.

Dee unpacks how faith, fear, and folklore collided in this chilling case - and how it reshaped Indonesian law, exposing the dark side of superstition and trust.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief brings you bite-sized doses of darkness from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy.

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• Ahmad Suradji – Wikipedia – Background, crimes, and trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Suradji
  

• Indonesia Executes Man for 42 Murders – The Irish Times, July 2008 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/indonesia-executes-man-for-42-murders-1.825761
  

• Indonesia Has Another Shaman Serial Killer – and the Phenomenon Is More Common Than You Think – The Diplomat, 2023 https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/indonesia-has-another-shaman-serial-killer-and-the-phenomenon-is-more-common-than-you-think/
  

• Sejarah Kekejian Dukun AS: Membantai 42 Perempuan Demi “Kesaktian” – Tirto.id, Oct 2018 https://tirto.id/sejarah-kekejian-dukun-as-membantai-42-perempuan-demi-kesaktian-c7Ec
  

• Additional coverage from Detik News, Kompas, and other Indonesian outlets as cited above.
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #AhmadSuradji #BlackMagicKiller #IndonesiaCrime #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInPodcasting #CreepyCute #GlobalTrueCrime #SerialKillerStories #FolkloreAndFear #PodcastShowNotes

Sources

This week on Dee-Brief, Dee sets sail into one of history’s eeriest maritime mysteries - The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste.

A fully stocked, seaworthy ship found adrift in the Atlantic… dinner still on the table… but not a single soul on board. What really happened to Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and daughter, and their seven-man crew when the Mary Celeste was discovered in 1872?

From the alcohol-fumes explosion theory to storms, mutiny, and even the supernatural, Dee unpacks the facts, the fictions, and why this “ghost ship” still haunts the world’s imagination 150 years later.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is your weekly bite-sized true-crime and mystery fix from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Support the show and look wicked while you’re at it — visit our RedBubble shop for tees, hats, mugs, and notebooks.

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SOURCES:

• U.S. National Archives: Inquiry into the Mary Celeste, Gibraltar, 1872–73

• Smithsonian Magazine: “The True Story of the Mary Celeste” (Joshua Hammer, 2007)

• BBC History: “The Riddle of the Mary Celeste”

• Encyclopedia Britannica (Revised 2023 entry on Mary Celeste

• New York Times, Dec 1872–Jan 1873 maritime reports

• Arthur Conan Doyle, “J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement”, Cornhill Magazine (1884)
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #MaryCeleste #GhostShip #MaritimeMystery #UnsolvedMystery #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInPodcasting #CreepyCute #HistoricalMystery #SeaLegends #PodcastShowNotes

This week on Dee-Brief, Dee saddles up and takes us back to 17th-century England for one of the most enduring legends in British folklore: The Wicked Lady of Markyate.

Was Katherine Ferrers really a masked highway robber who terrorised Hertfordshire’s roads by moonlight? Or was she an unlucky heiress whose tragic life was rewritten into legend?

From Civil War politics and family fortune to mythmaking, ghost stories, and Hollywood glamour, this episode separates the fact from the folklore — and explores why the idea of the “Wicked Lady” still gallops through popular culture today.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is your weekly true-crime pit stop from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy. Perfect for your dark commute or candlelit bath.

🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Support the show and look wicked while doing it — visit our RedBubble shop for tees, hats, mugs, notebooks, and more.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you get your true crime fix.

SOURCES

• Katherine Ferrars (1634–1660), later wife of Thomas Fanshawe – Valence House https://valencehousecollections.co.uk/object/katherine-ferrars-1634-1660-later-wife-of-thomas-fanshawe/

• Katherine Ferrers Facts for Kids https://kids.kiddle.co/Katherine_Ferrers

• The Wicked Lady: A Revision of the Life of Katherine Ferrers https://www.johnbarber.com/katherine-ferrers-the-wicked-lady/

• Katherine Ferrers – The Unfairly Named “Wicked Lady”, Heritage Daily https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/12/katherine-ferrers-the-unfairly-named-wicked-lady/150063

• Katherine Ferrers, Chilterns National Landscape https://www.chilterns.org.uk/map_marker/katherine-ferrers/

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #KatherineFerrers #WickedLady #Highwaywoman #BritishFolklore #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInHistory #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting #PodcastShowNotes #MythVsReality #FolkloreFriday

This week on Dee-Brief, Dee explores one of the darkest cases to ever rock the Royal Navy - Allan Grimson: The Killer Sailor.

A decorated naval instructor. A trusted mentor. And behind that disciplined façade - a sadistic killer.

Between 1997 and 1999, two young sailors disappeared on the exact same date, two years apart. Both had been lured by Grimson, both were murdered with chilling precision. What investigators uncovered would expose a pattern of predation hidden inside one of Britain’s most respected institutions.

Sources:

• BBC News, “Navy Instructor Guilty of Two Murders,” June 2001

• The Guardian, “Killer Sailor Allan Grimson Given Life for Double Murder,” 2001

• ITV News, “Police Re-Examine Claims of More Victims by Killer Sailor Allan Grimson,” 2011

• Hampshire Constabulary archives, Operation Anchorage reports (1999–2011)

• The Independent, “How the Navy’s Killer Turned Training into Torture,” 2001

• David Wilson, A History of British Serial Killing (2009)
  

💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is our weekly bite-sized true crime fix from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy. Perfect for when you need a dose of dark storytelling between full seasons.

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#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBriefed #TrueCrimePodcast #AllanGrimson #KillerSailor #RoyalNavyCrimes #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #SerialKillerStories #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting #PodcastShowNotes

This week on Dee-Brief, Dee dives into one of the most extraordinary courtroom dramas of Victorian England — the case of The Tichborne Claimant.

When Sir Roger Tichborne vanished at sea, his grieving mother refused to believe he was gone. Over a decade later, a butcher from Australia stepped forward, claiming to be the missing heir — sparking one of the longest and most sensational trials in British history.

Was he a conman, a delusional dreamer, or a symbol of class rebellion? This is the story of Arthur Orton — or Sir Roger, depending on who you asked — and the bizarre, heartbreaking, and utterly human saga that captivated a nation.

Part scandal, part tragedy, part early celebrity circus — the Tichborne case is proof that truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction.

Sources:

• Rohan McWilliam, The Tichborne Claimant: A Victorian Sensation (Continuum, 2007)

• Christopher Hilliard, The Claimant: A True Story of a Man Who Would Be King (Penguin, 2024)

• The Times archives (London, 1871–1874)

• British Library: Tichborne Trials Collection

• BBC History Magazine, “The Butcher Who Claimed to Be an Aristocrat” (2015)

• The National Archives, UK: CRIM 1/51, R v. Castro (The Tichborne Case)
  

💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is a mini-episode series from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — bite-sized true crime stories to keep you entertained while the main show’s on a season break. Smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy.

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#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #VictorianCrime #TheTichborneClaimant #IdentityTheft #Conman #VictorianScandal #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes #DarkHistory #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting