Mystery Of The Pyjama Girl

Episode 432 comes from a request from a listener Down Under, the story of a mysterious body found smoldering in a country culvert. It takes ten years to identify the body and name a suspect, but one interested physician claims they misidentified the victim and pinned the crime on the wrong man. Weigh the evidence yourself, and let me know your verdict.

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Kid McCoy Down For The Count

Episode 427 documents a dramatic fall from grace when a beloved American prizefighter and silent film star falls for a married woman, who seemed destined to be his ninth or tenth wife. His marital history is as complicated and murky as her business dealings, and their affair takes a tragic turn late one hot august night.

Culled from the historic pages of the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers of the era.

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Life And Confession of Stephen Dee Richards

Episode 223 takes us to the prairies of Nebraska to explore the state's first serial killer, Stephen Dee Richards. His confession and the reporting of his murder come from a sensational trial pamphlet published shortly after his death, the 19th century version of a true crime podcast.

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The Reily Mattock Murder

Episode 198 is centered on one of my favorite murder tropes, the so-called “eternal triangle,” between the cranky old farmer, his fading wife, and the handsome young farmhand. Yeah, that’s not going to end well, but they might have gotten away with it if they had just put the body across the tracks. It’s all in the details.

Culled from the historic pages of the Hamilton Journal-News and other newspapers of the era.

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Jealous Husband Murders Rival, Wounds Wife

Episode 232 is really just your average love triangle gone awry, but there are mysteries to be solved here, and the real reason I like this story is that the bad girl in this case is not the instigator, but a survivor, the victim of a jealous husband, a strong Southern woman with flair and flaws of her own.

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Case File For The Scoundrel Lingo

Episode 428 describes two violent murders in the rural areas around Merchantville, New Jersey, in the 1890s. A rough farm-hand is the first suspect in the first case, but suspicion suddenly turns to the victim’s uncle/husband and attention to a trial full of courtroom theatrics. Then a nearly identical murder a year later adds a new wrinkle to the case. But that’s still not all.

Culled from the historic pages of the New York Daily World, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other newspapers of the era.

A Deadly Package At Seat Pleasant

Episode 430 tells of another holiday celebration ending in tragedy, when a mysterious package makes its way to the home of a young recently secretly married expectant mother. Suspicion falls at once to the family of her secret husband, and the husband himself.

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The Trial Of The Mother Of Dolls

Episode 240 is one of those cases where you just know that somebody's off their rocker, but it's hard to figure out exactly who. Things get weird when a husband charges his wife with murdering their twin babies. That he never saw. So what was he pushing around in the stroller the last couple of months?

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The End Of The Skinny And Stumpy Affair

Episode 429 is our very special holiday episode, in which a disenchanted housewife pulls the trigger on her lover and claims self-defense. Let’s see how that works out for her.Culled from the historic pages of the Louisville Courier-Journal and other newspapers of the era.

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The Michigan School House Massacre

Episode 48 looks at the most tragic school massacre in American history, this one perpetrated by the school district’s treasurer, upset over a recent rise in his property taxes to build a new school. So he decides to blow up his own house and take the school down, too, claiming 45 lives, including his own. If not for a faulty wiring plan, it could have been worse. Much worse.Music by Chuck Wiggins