History is Criminal
Crime is as old as human history. After 30 years of teaching history, I brought my story telling to the internet. In season 2 I'm joined by my history hating wife as she is forced to listen to my stories of historic crime. She adds her thoughts, questions and sarcastic comments as the stories unravel. If you like history or crime, or just a wife harassing her husband, join us. New stories drop every Wednesday.
Episodes
The Black Dahlia: Cupid's lousy aim
In 1947 a woman walked with young daughter to pick up a pair of shoes. Ahead she was what she thought was a broken mannequin, what it actually was would start one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in the history of Hollywood. Join Kim a…
The Indiana Ogress: Belle Gunness
What is a lonely widow to do when not one but two husbands up and die on her? Well head to the personal ads of course. And that was just what Belle Gunness did, over and over again. Was she an unlucky victim of both fate and an evil man or …
The Over Emotional Benedict: or how to save then sell out a nation
He was one of the greatest heroes of the Revolution, right up until he betrayed it. Why would a man who gave the American cause everything turn traitor? Was it love, money, or something else that drove Benedict Arnold to become the most fam…
The Missouri Kid: Let's Rob a Bank!
His was always a troublemaker, even his mama said so. But, was Willie Rudolph, AKA the Missouri Kid smart enough to outwit the private army, that was the Pinkerton Detective Agency. At a time when bank robbers were often viewed as folk hero…
Divorce, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived: Or chop, chop goes the Queen
Maybe marrying the King of England isn't all that great. For the wives of Henry VIII, it was a dangerous game. Of his six wives it would be Anne Boleyn whose death still sticks with us the most. Maybe because it caused a whole country to ch…
Tiny lady, big gun: The Story of Pearl Hart
The Bandit Queen of Arizona, Pearl Hart seemed to be all about breaking hearts and breaking barrios as the 19th century came to an end. She would become a nationwide celebrity and even a poster woman for the suffragette movement. All this d…
Ye Olde Dumb Criminals: America's First Bank Heist
Kim and I jump back to the late 1700's and the City of Brotherly Love, to examine a poorly executed bank heist. 1798 Philadelphia, Yellow fever rips through the city, as people flea two men pull off the first bank robbery in US History. The…
One wrong turn and world goes crazy: the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Kimberly and I take a look at the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. If it were a Holly wood story it would have too many plot holes and coincidences for anyone to want to produce it. How did a 19 year old Serbian military …
High Finance Whoopsies, Story of Adele Spitzeder
In a new format, my co-host and I look at one on the biggest con artist in history. Long before Charles Ponzi made it famous, Adele Spitzeder was swindling a massive fortune from the folks in Munich Bravia. Even in the world of crime, a wom…
The Assassination of Garfield - Not the cat
When a man's self-aggrandizing become so extreme that he believes he alone controlled the outcome of a Presidential election tragedy follows. Charles Guiteau decided that President James Garfield had to die. The story of how he came to that…
Tragedy of Charles Hall or Ice, Ice, no baby
Artic explorer Charles Hall just wants to plant the Stars and Stripes at the North Pole. But it seems the ice and his crew have another idea. It murder in the frozen North and a 150 year old whodunit. Someone decided that they didn't want t…
The Gentler tortures: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
When religion and government mix bad things can happen. When religious zealots decide that government need to change by any means necessary really bad things can happen. Remember, Remember the 5th of November ... In this episode we take on …
Lizzie Borden took an axe ...
The crime shocked a nation. How could the "Protestant Nun" the refined and gentle, Lizzie Borden have committed such a violent murder. The town of Fall River and nation would divide along socioeconomic lines over the idea of her guilt. Did …
Introduction
What are we all about? True historic crime both the famous and not so famous. If you are a history buff, or a true crime nerd, or both, like me, then give us a try. If you like what you hear tell a friend, and if you don't like it tell and …
Never take free lard from a stranger or The Skull in Sir David Attenborough's garden
Famed naturalist Sir David Attenborough found a skull in the garden of an ancient pub he purchased. The skull, found in 2010, renewed interest in a murder from London's Victorian age. The murder of Julia Thomas, by her maid Kate Webster, se…
The Big Con: I've got a bridge to sell ya!
They will sell you a bridge, a magic box to print money, world famous landmarks, even a whole country. When it comes to conmen George C Parker, Victor Lustig, and Gregor MacGregor might have been the best of the worst. Just how did they man…
Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin
Trigger Warning: sexual assault: While the war launched, and the Holocaust started a psycho used the S-Bahn trains of Berlin as his hunting grounds. Using the cover of air raid warnings, and police hampered by Nazi officials, his reign of t…
Pirate Queens of the Caribbean
PIRATES... Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read for a short time were three of the most infamous names in the Caribbean. Just how did two women become notorious swashbucklers, at a time when women weren't supposed to be on board a ship. W…
Outlaw or Hero: Ned Kelly Bushranger of Australia
Ned Kelly became a folk hero to the people of Australia. His life was short and violent, but he was a tough and complicated man just like the land of his birth. It would all come down to final showdown in a sight that could easily have insp…
Assassination or Suicide: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis
He was a national hero. His partner William Clark, and he had traveled across an unknown continent and returned to admiration of a nation. But Meriweather Lewis was a man plagued by personal demons. It is also possible that he had uncovered…
Death of a Starlet: the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Trials
In the golden age of silent movies one of the biggest stars, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, is caught up in a scandal revolves around the death of young beautiful up-and-coming starlet, Virginia Rappe. But what really happened in that hotel room …
Killing Kings, French Style
In our 25th episode, The French Wars of Religion act as the backdrop for a horrible accident and some grisly murders. In true French fashion they will go over the top as they play hide the knife in the monarch. It will see the end of the Va…
Who killed Edgar Allan Poe?
Known as the master of the macabre and the father of the detective story, Edgar Allan Poe would himself become a whodunit that have remained unanswered for 180 years. His life was filled with tragedy. It is also odd that the number 24 is at…
Baby Farmers: AKA the absolute scum of the Earth
Some crimes are just more horrible than others. The baby farmers or the Victorian Age are truly the worst of the worst preying on the most innocent and the most vulnerable they prove evil people will do anything to make a buck.
Transatlantic Murder: Story of Dr Thomas Neill Cream
Sandwiched between HH Holmes and Jack the Ripper is the Lambeth Poisoner, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream. His body count crosses two continents and one ocean. Even a life sentence couldn't stop him.
The Many Murders Surrounding Mary Queen of Scots
A beautiful 18 year old takes the throne of Scotland, what could go wrong. Well if it is the 1600s, the answer is, just about everything. Royal rivalries, bad choices in men, and religious and political plotting will cause the bodies to dro…
Pearls before Swine? The Great Pearl Robbery
A gang of thieves almost pulls off the crime of the century, just as the century is starting. A necklace with a value greater than the Hope Diamond goes missing. Insurance investigators and Scotland Yard's greatest detective will have to ou…
the Puritan War on Christmas AKA Cromwell the Grinch
Merry Christmas or if the Puritans had their way, GET BACK TO WORK. A King is deposed and most holidays and fun in general is banned by the Puritans in the culture wars of the 1640s. In this Xmas episode we take a look at how and why the ho…
Murder of Mary Phagan and Leo Frank's Trial by Media
A young girl is brutally murdered in 1913 Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta PD will focus on a "Jewish Carpetbagger" from New York as the killer. But was this a horrible miscarriage of justice. In a case that would highlight the social conflict in …
Saint Nicholas, AKA the real BAD Santa with intro music
Punch a bishop in the face, get some kids out of a pickle barrel, and have your bones stolen, just a day in the life of Jolly old Saint Nick. Just wanted to try it with the music, same episode as 1-15.
Saint Nicholas, AKA the real BAD Santa
A punch in the mouth, and stolen bones. We take a look at the life and after-life of the patron saint of sailors, thieves, and children. Jolly old Saint Nick is the subject of a special Saint Nicholas day holiday episode of History is Crimi…
Abe Lincoln's bad night at the theater
The Story every American knows. An actor and southern sympathizer, John Wilks Booth, shoots and kills President Abraham Lincoln. Booth is then hunted down and killed by members of the Union Army. But the rest of the story includes additiona…
Burke and Hare: Grave Robbing for fun and Profit.
What do you do when you can't find enough bodies to meet the needs of the local medical community. The obvious answer create a few more dead. We will take a look at the crimes of William Burke and William Hare two capitalist who will find a…
Witches and more witches: Salem Witch Trials
What do you do when young girls start to behave like they are being attacked by invisible tormentors. First pray and starve them, if that doesn't work, hunt some witches. In 1692 Salem village would lose their collective minds. Happy Hallo…
The Bloody Countess: Torture and Murder, Elizabeth Bathory
A woman of great wealth and power is accused of killing hundreds of young women. Was she a psychotic serial killer, a cautionary tale of power gone unchecked, or the victim of a plot to rob her of her land and wealth? We will attempt to dig…
The Mary Russell: Crazy, crazy boat time.
In our longest episode, just couldn't think what to leave out, we take a look at murder on the high seas. Captain William Stewart in a fit of paranoia will attack his own crew.
Mary Ann Cotton: Black Widow or insanely bad luck
She went through 4 husbands, numerous children and stepchildren, benefiting from many of their deaths. Was she a cold blooded killer for profit, or a woman with poor luck, who loved a little too freely for 19th century England? Shout to sou…
Jeramiah Meacham: Axes and paranoia in 1715 Rhode Island
What happens when paranoid delusions are treated with nothing but alcohol? The answer in 1715 Newport, Rhode Island is bad things happen.
Andrew Jackson: Murder and mayhem on the road to the White House
The seventh President of the United States is steeped in controversy. Indian removal, a war with the Bank of the United States, and a threatened invasion of South Carolina, all make Jackson a powerful, but questionable chief executive. But …
Peter Stubbe: Werewolf of Bedberg
In the 1500s in Bedberg, Germany when children and young women go missing the locals believe it to be the actions of a werewolf. After decades of disappearances and attacks they take action, only to find it is one of their own behind the gr…