In this new series we look at the history of blood feuds, starting with an obscure and scattered story from the era of Anglo-Saxon England, and a series of killings between two family lines that took place over 60 years of political upheaval, warfare and conquest, with cameo appearances from Macbeth and Lady Godiva.   Our primary source for this episode is "Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England" by Richard Fletcher   For the intro on the Regulator-Moderator War, our...

In this episode we conclude our series on shipwrecks by looking at the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, a US Navy cruiser sunk by a Japanese submarine near the end of World War II. The nearly 900 survivors of the sinking were left adrift for days with no food or water, combating the elements and massing of sharks that picked them off one by one. Our primary source for this episode is "In Harms Way" by Doug Stanton   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the...

For our annual Christmas Eve ghost story, a reading of Edith Wharton's classic short story, "The Eyes," first published in 1910.

In this episode we look at the sinking of the Lusitania, a British passenger liner that was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing over a thousand people, including 128 Americans, and helping move the then neutral United States toward joining the Allied powers.    Sources for this episode are: "Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy" by Diana Preston   https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/february/truth-about-tonkin   Music in this episode is courtesy of...

In this episode we look at one of the most famous shipwrecks in world history: The sinking of the Titanic. An event layered in myth, melodrama and sentimentality, it captured the attention of the world and led to vast changes in international shipping. However, the event is much more political, more troubling and more relevant to today than it is often given credit for. The primary sources for the episode are: "Titanic: End of a Dream" by Wyn Craig Wade "The Story of the Titanic as Told...

In this episode we look at the mystery of the Mary Celeste, a merchant ship that in 1872 was found having been abandoned for over a week floating in the Atlantic ocean, all who had been aboard it missing for no reason that anyone could discover, the ship still in good working order. We'll look at the history of the ship both before and after this incident, as well as how the mystery reverberated through history, the legend expanding and growing over time. Our primary source for this episode...

In this episode we look at the wreck of the Essex, a whaling ship out of Nantucket that in 1820 was attacked by a giant sperm whale in the Pacific and sunk, leaving its 20 man crew drifting on three whaleboats thousands of miles from land. The journey they took is a terrifying story of the limits of human survival, and became an inspiration for Herman Melville's novel 1851 novel "Moby Dick." Our primary sources for this episode are: "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathan Philbrick "The...

In this episode, the first of a six part series on the history of shipwrecks, we look at one of the most famous shipwrecks of the 19th century. In 1816 a French frigate called the Medusa, through the poor leadership of its captain, struck a sandbank in route the Senegal. Without enough lifeboats, 147 passengers were put on a makeshift raft that was soon cut loose while the rest of the passengers fled. Left floating for almost two weeks, the raft of the Medusa became a tale of the terrible...

In this episode, the first in an occasional series on the executions and executioners, we look at the issue of botched executions, instances when the normal procedure of a state execution goes tragically, sometimes gruesomely wrong. Through this we look through a brief history of executions, from beheadings to modern lethal injections. Sources for this episode include the...

In the final entry for our series on unsolved serial killer cases, we look at the Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area with a string of killings from 1968-69 and then for years after with disturbing letters sent to the local press.  Our primary sources for this episode were: "Zodiac" by Robert Graysmith www.zodiackiller.com http://www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at...

In the second part of our look at unsolved serial killings, we head back to the Great Depression to look at the Cleveland Torso Murders, a series of twelve murders committed by a man who left dismembered bodies all over the city. We'll look at how the killings strained the city government terrified the populace and led local law enforcement to deadly extremes. Our primary sources for this episode were: "In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders" by James Jessen Badal "Werewolves...

In this episode we start a new three part series about unsolved serial killings. We begin with one of the most famous unsolved crimes in the Western world, the Jack the Ripper killings. Beginning in August of 1888, the murders would go on to become one of the first serial killer cases to cause a media frenzy, one that would terrify and obsess people the world over. Our primary source for this episode was "The Complete Jack the Ripper" by Donald Rumbelow. Music in this episode is courtesy of...

In the conclusion of our series on the deaths of tyrants, we look at one of the strangest and most fascinating figures of the last century, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya from 1969 when he lead a coup that overthrew the country's monarchy, to his death in 2011 as his country descended into civil war. Our primary sources for this episode were: "Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi" by Alison Pargeter"The Green Book" by Muammar GaddafiMusic in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou...

In our new Christmas Eve tradition, I present a reading of ghost story, this one from Canadian novelist Robertson Davies, entitled "Revelation From a Smoky Fire." You can find it in his collection "High Spirits," which collects the stories he wrote to read at the annual Christmas celebrations for Massey College at the University of Toronto.

In our second episode in our series about the deaths of tyrants, we look at the death of Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union after consolidating power following the death of Lenin and was soon one of the most powerful and influential men on earth. In this episode we look at his last moments, the live of his family and associates, and how his death changed the direction of the Soviet Union.Our primary sources for this episode were:"The Last Day of Stalin" by Joshua Rubenstein"Stalin: The...

In this new series of three episodes, we look at the lives and deaths of tyrants, starting here with the life of the Emperor Nero, the last member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a man who's name has become synonymous with despotism. I'll be looking at how the popular perception of Nero brushes over the complexity of his character, and I'll be looking at the bloody, backstabbing milieu he was brought up in.Our primary source of the episodes is "Nero" by Edward Champlin.Here is the primary...

In the final episode on our series about deaths that changed history, we look at the life of 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy. In office for only 1,036 days before his assassination on November 22nd, 1963, he oversaw some of the most momentous events in 20th century US history. We look at his life, career, and how his death might have changed the direction of the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam and the Cold War.Our primary source for this episode is "An Unfinished...

Continuing our series on deaths that changed history, we look at the death of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and one of the most fascinating religious figures in American history. We'll follow his life from a New England that swarmed with tent revivals and utopian preachers to persecution in Missouri, the rise of the church for a small handful to thousands of follows, and finally to his death at the hands of a mob at the jailhouse in Carthage, Illinois.My primary source for this...

We now begin a new series about deaths that changed history by happening when they did, and look at lives that could have changed history had they gone on just a little longer. In this first episode, I'll be telling the story of Julian the Apostate, the last non-Christian ruler of Rome, and a man who seemed determined to push back the tide of Christian ascendency in the West until his life was cut short less than two years into his reign.My primary source for this episode is "The Last Pagan:...

In the last part of our series on deaths stemming from mass hysteria, we look at the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, a violent riot that led to the systematic destruction to one of the only wealthy black communities in the country by a mob of angry white people. With a death toll likely close to 300 and the better part of 35 square blocks of a neighborhood razed to the ground, it was one of the most violent acts of mob violence in American history. My primary source for this episode was "The Burning:...

In this episode we look at the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903, two days of looting, rape and murder directed at the Jewish community of an agricultural city in the western part of the Russian empire. The carnage of the even shocked the world and led to an outpouring of support for the victims, but also caused darker and more sinister ripples through world culture. My primary source for this episode was "Pogroms: Kishinev and the Tilt of History" by Steven J. Zipperstein. For the intro I used the...

In this first part of a three part series about deaths caused in mass hysteria, I look at the most famous act of mass panic in American history, the Salem Witch Trials. Lasting through most of 1692 and into 1693 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the trials were set off when two young girls, the daughter and niece of a minister, began throwing fits and claiming to be bewitched. From there a mass panic grew that would eventually lead to 19 executions, as well as other dying in prison or under...

In this episode I look at works of art created when famous artists attempted to paint after the death of a spouse. First we look at Rembrandt, whose wife Saskia died of tuberculosis in 1647 at the height of his career, which then went into a humiliating downslide from which he never recovered. Then we look at Claude Monet, who's wife Camille died in 1879 when his own career was already at its nadir. Sources for this episode"Rembrandt: A Life" by Charles L. Mee Jr."The Private Lives of the...

In this episode I look at the panic over premature burial that inflamed Western culture from the mid-1700s all through the 19th century. We'll look at the waiting mortuaries of the German states, where bodies were sent to wait until putrification set in just in case the revived, the creation of "security coffins" to protect against being buried alive, and how the fear manifested in different ways in different counties.Our primary source for this episode is "Buried Alive" by Jan Bondeson. The...