
True Crime Historian
Wondery
Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
Location:
Cincinnati, OH
Networks:
Wondery
Description:
Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalism Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
Twitter:
@trucrimehistory
Language:
English
Episodes
A Family Of Outlaws
4/23/2026
The Reckless Reno Gang
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Episode 92 takes place after the Civil War, when the Reno Brothers explored a new way to rob trains that inspired the James and Younger gangs. But even the wild and wily Reno brothers were no match for Allen Pinkerton and his detectives. Although it takes place in Indiana, this story has the trappings of a tale of the Old West: Daring robberies, fugitives from justice, clever arrests, and a final showdown in the New Albany jail. Adapted from "The Pinkertons: A Detective Dynasty" by Richard Wilmer Rowan
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You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:25:10
American Scoundrel John Eaton
4/22/2026
Andrew Jackson's Secretary of War spent a decade courting a married woman, arranged her husband's convenient posting to the Mediterranean, and married her six weeks before the 1829 inauguration. The Cabinet collapsed. Calhoun was destroyed. Jackson never recovered. John Henry Eaton walked away clean. Washington City's most elegant arsonist.
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You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:10:11
Lizzie Gillespie Killed By Twin Brother
4/21/2026
Family Tragedy in Rising Sun
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Episode 89. In a lot of these stories from the old newspapers, the press coverage and the locale itself often take on the attributes of characters in the drama. In this case, the town of Rising Sun, Indiana, seems to evolve as the story progresses. When one of the town matrons, the spinster Lizzie Gillespie is found assassinated in her parlor, townfolk tell reporters she had no enemy in the world and there could be no logical reason for the murder. Then they start thinking of things, but they don’t want to name names. And when Lizzie’s twin brother Jim goes to trial, he and his co-defendants fear lynching, but the town only wants to be entertained by the scandal. While I recognize the tragedy of a life lost, I find a subtle comedy in this tale of intrigue, betrayal, and murder.
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You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:51:11
American Scoundrel Clyde Tolson
4/20/2026
Clyde Tolson ran personnel and discipline at the FBI for 44 years — the man who hired, promoted, and silenced the agents who carried out J. Edgar Hoover's illegal surveillance campaigns. He built the compliant machine. He signed the memos. He inherited the house. History gave him the quiet burial he counted on.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:10:50
At The Bottom Of A Brookfield Well
4/19/2026
The Case Of Bathsheba Spooner
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Episode 474 takes place in 1788 when the secrets of a prosperous Massachusetts family are revealed, beginning with a dead body in the bottom of a well. By spring, four people would hang because of what came to light. One of them was a woman. One of them was pregnant.
Hear More Stories About FEMMES FATALE!!!!
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You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:53:19
Femme Fatale Wu Zetian
4/18/2026
Wu Zetian entered the Tang court as a teenage concubine in 638. By 690, she'd murdered her way to the Dragon Throne — the only woman in Chinese history to rule as Emperor. She stuffed rivals into wine jars, built a secret police, and spent her final years afraid of house cats.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:09:54
Magazine #4
4/17/2026
Episode 130
Murder By Fire, by Brandon White
The Abominable Mr. Yelverton, by Edmund Pearson
The American Exchange Bank Robbery, By Cleveland Moffat
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:02:02:16
American Scoundrel Wiliam N. Roach
4/16/2026
William N. Roach embezzled sixty thousand dollars from a Washington bank, fled to Dakota Territory, and returned the money just fast enough to dodge prison. Fourteen years later, a Republican civil war handed him a U.S. Senate seat nobody voted for. The Senate tried to expel him. Time said no.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:09:52
Girl Did Not Kill Herself
4/15/2026
The Mysterious Death of Louise Monteabaro In
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Episode 20, Police Chief Henry Blake’s story stays consistent throughout, from the time he reported the incident to the judge/acting coroner to the time that the dead girl’s aunt stabbed him in the neck: Miss Louise Monteabaro used her own gun to commit suicide in the passenger seat of her car. But according to those who knew the young sewing machine saleswoman, that seemed unlikely.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:27:59
Their Secret Died In The Chair
4/14/2026
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Episode 22 is an exciting story that has many of the elements of classic noir: A deadly robbery, an exhaustive manhunt, a daring escape from the county jail and a tense showdown ending with a clever police ploy. In the spring of 1918, three men burst into a business meeting and steal a mere pocketful of cash, but leave three men, including one of their own, dead in a fusillade of bullets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:37:44
American Scoundrel Boss Tweed
4/13/2026
Gilded Age New York. William Magear Tweed rode Tammany Hall to the top and looted the city treasury through padded bills, phantom invoices, and kickbacks buried in plaster. His crowning theft was a courthouse whose $250,000 budget swelled past $12 million. In November 1873, a jury convicted him inside it.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:09:46
Murder In The Marble Halls
4/12/2026
The Assassination of Huey P. Long
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Episode 473 takes us to Baton Rouge on the night of September 8, 1935, when a quiet young doctor walked into the Louisiana State Capitol and never walked out. He left no note. No confession. No explanation. Six people who stood beside him — or over him — tell the story he never told.
Hear more episodes about ASSASSINATIONS!!!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:01:03:47
The Showgirl & The Conman
4/12/2026
The Complicated Romance of Fannie Brice and Notorious Nicky Arnstein
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In Episode 60, we take a little break from murderous mayhem for a love story with a different kind of mayhem. The world of Broadway was quite aghast when Fannie Brice, a star of the Ziegfield Follies, took up with New York gambler Julius Wilford Arnstein, better known as Nicky, whose story was adapted into the musical “Funny Girl.” The first act is a Sunday magazine article that was published while Nicky was serving time in the Leavenworth prison, and act two is a telling of the conclusion of the romance by Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s star reporter Alice Cogan.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:26:58
American Scoundrel Daniel Butterfield
4/11/2026
In 1869, Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Butterfield took a ten-thousand-dollar bribe from Jay Gould to leak Treasury gold sales, helping trigger the Black Friday panic that bankrupted brokers and ruined farmers across the Midwest. The man who composed Taps sold out his country and never spent a day in prison.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:09:30
Magazine #1
4/10/2026
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:37:26
American Scoundrel Joseph R Burton
4/9/2026
In 1902, Kansas Senator Joseph R. Burton walked a mail fraud operator into the Post Office inspector's office and made a federal investigation disappear. The price: twenty-five hundred dollars, paid in monthly installments. The first sitting senator convicted of a felony sold his office for the price of a used carriage.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:08:52
The Handyman's Morning
4/6/2026
The Murder Of Captain Joseph White
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Episode 472 takes us back to Salem, Massachusetts in 1830 when an old man dead in his bed from thirteen stab wounds. The clues: an unlocked window and a fortune that was never what anyone thought it was. The plot implicates four young men from two of Salem's best families and involves one famous and very expensive lawyer. This is the murder that taught Edgar Allan Poe everything he needed to know about guilt.
More CAPERS & CONSPIRACIES
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:54:19
The Third Passenger
4/2/2026
What’s In The Package Mr. Wainwright?
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Episode 49 is adapted from our favorite true crime pioneer, Edmund Pearson, who worked in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. He was a librarian by training and profession, but first made his mark on the true crime canon with his unique take on the Lizzie Borden crime. He wrote several books and many magazine articles, a regular contributor to the New Yorker for a time as well as a syndicated newspaper columnist. In this episode, he tells the story of an 1875 murder in old London towne.
More stories from EDMUND PEARSON
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:26:28
Violent Cremation
3/31/2026
The Cincinnati Tanyard Murder
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Episode 17 is a report from Lafcadio Hearn, on of my favorite Pioneers of True Crime. 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 what’s commonly known to local history as “the tanyard murder” in 1874. His account of the crime helped, I’m sure, make it one of the most well-known of Cincinnati’s historical murders. Hearn is also well-known for his essays about the poorest parts of Cincinnati.Even though the author was visually impaired (he carried with him both a magnifying glass and a telescope), Hearn's account of this ghastly crime contains graphic details of the discovery of the body and the autopsy.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.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.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
Duración:00:36:41
Face-To-Face With Pretty Boy Floyd
3/30/2026
The Oklahoma Phantom Terror
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Episode 471 finds us in 1932, a hill country reporter named Vivian Brown did what no one else ever managed — she sat down with Pretty Boy Floyd and got him talking. Two years later, a teletype changed everything. The only interview the phantom bandit ever gave. Tonight, we hear the story from her point of view.
Hear more stories about MANHUNTS!!!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.
We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:
If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!
For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Duración:00:49:27