PULP NONFICTIONA reading from the True Crime pioneer Lafcadio Hearn

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CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

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True crime history is not just about reviving the stories of America's scandals, scoundrels and scourges, but also about exploring the history of true crime as a genre.

Although he became better known late in his career for his books on travel and on Japanese legends and ghost stories, Lafcadio Hearn began his professional writing career as a staff correspondent for the Cincinnati Enquirer. He was such a devotee of Edgar Allen Poe that he carried the nickname, The Raven, given to him by an early mentor, throughout his life. The devotion shows in much of his writing, including this account of a tanyard murder in 1874.

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Even though the author was visually impaired, Hearn's account of this ghastly crime contains graphic details of the discovery of the body and the autopsy, so if you are sensitive to such things, you might want to fast forward through that part.

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The tanyard was situated next to a soap factory that had caught fire the previous night and attracted a crowd of 50,000, the newspapers said, to watch the massive flames. Such was the mood of the city that Hearn begins his report with a quote from William Shakespeare's tragic Hamlet.

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Please visit www.truecrimehistorian.com/1874tanyard for source information on this story, and an excellent essay about the life and travels of Lafcadio Hearn written by my friend and colleague James Fuhrman.

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On the website, you can also find additional stories about America's famous and forgotten scandals, scoundrels and scourges as well as information about how to purchase my true crime books and Two-Dollar Terror novellas.

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Musical direction and theme music by Chuck Wiggins

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Produced by Richard O Jones