History's Devils

This episode of History's Devils explores the largely forgotten history behind the Western vampire legend and the tropes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, by looking at the great vampire panic that swept across Europe in the 1700s, and the historical Serbian vampires that started the hysteria. Joined by Nick Jubber (author of Monsterland: A Journey Around the World's Dark Imagination ), Jam...

In this week’s episode, James Crossland is joined by Katherine Grandjean (author of Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution ) the explore the story of Micajah “Big Harp” and Wiley “Little Harp,” two notorious brothers accused of killing more than 20 people on the American frontier in the late 1790s.  The Harps’ murder spree ran from 1798–1799 in the unstable af...

The second part of History’s Devils’ investigation into the sinking of USS Indianapolis examines why more than 800 sailors were left in the Pacific for four days after the Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed the cruiser in July 1945. James is joined once again by Kyle Kochenberger from the History Buffs or Bluffs Podcast to trace the source of the disaster to failures by the US Navy, including withh...

In the final weeks of the Second World War, the USS Indianapolis secretly transported components for the "Little Boy" atomic bomb from San Francisco to Tinian Island, for assembly ahead of it being dropped over Hiroshima. After completing its mission, the unescorted heavy cruiser was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945, sinking in just 12 minutes and leaving hundred...

In part one of this week’s episode, James Crossland and Jayne Friend examine the foremost religious grifter of his age – Jim Bakker, and his marriage to the charismatic Tammy Faye Messner, who together created a TV partnership that would make them enormously wealthy, famous and corrupt.  The episode follows Jim and Tammy’s journey from traveling evangelicals to stars of Pat Robertson’s Christian B...

In episode two, James and Jayne discuss how Jim Bakker's evangelical empire reaches its peak in the 1980s with the PTL network and Heritage USA, but reckless spending, fraudulent fundraising and the sexual assault of Jessica Hahn expose the corruption behind the prosperity-gospel machine. Meanwhile, Tammy Faye Bakker falls into drug addiction! The 45-year prison sentence and eventual release...

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are remembered as legendary lawmen and gunfighters of the American Old West, but their real lives were far more complicated than the heroic images created by films such as Tombstone? In this week's episode of History’s Devils , James sits down with Mark Lee Gardner - historian of the Old West, musician and author of Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, an...

Can a single bullet change history? This episode examines Gavrilo Princip’s path from Pan-Slavic radical to the assassin who on June 28, 1914, murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand, providing the catalyst for the First World War.  Joined by terrorism expert Tim Wilson (author of Killing Strangers: How Political Violence Became Modern ), James explores the process of Princip’s radicalization in the pol...

In episode two of our examination of Gavrilo Princip, Tim Wilson is back to help James piece together the events leading up to the fateful summer afternoon in Sarajevo in 1914, when Princip and his conspirators attacked Franz Ferdinand, triggered the July Crisis that would lead to the First World War.  In this episode, we explain how Princip was inspired to kill the heir to the Austro-Hungarian th...

This week, James Crossland is joined by Nicholas Morton (Author of The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East ) to discuss the life and times of the most notorious crusader of his age, Reynald de Châtillon. From his arrival in the Crusader States in the 1150s through to his imprisonment by Nur-al-Din and his increasingly provocative attacks against Saladin, James and Nic...

On this week’s episode of History’s Devils, we’re asking a difficult question – how do you find the devil in a hero? We’re talking about Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who on 20 July 1944, tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Sounds like a good guy, right? But, 80 years on from the end of the Second World War, questions remain about the backgrounds and motivations of Stauffenberg and the German res...

This week's episodes explores how Timothy McVeigh became the Oklahoma City bomber, tracing his path from disillusioned Gulf War veteran to the deadliest domestic terrorist in American history, while examining the far-right movements, anti-government extremism and white supremacist ideology that shaped his radicalization. For this epic two-parter, James is joined by Craig Johnson , host of 15...

In part two of the Timothy McVeigh episode, James is joined once again by Craig Johnson , host of 15 Minutes of Fascism , to explain how the Oklahoma City bombing was planned and executed. James and Craig also break down the means by which Tim McVeigh and his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols were captured, before assessing the dark legacy of the bombing and the impact it had on America's far-rig...

In this episode of History’s Devils , James is joined by Bob Whitaker of the History Re-Spawned Podcast to explore the real American history behind the Grand Theft Auto video game series, focusing on how GTA depicts gang violence, the crack epidemic, police brutality, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, gun culture, corruption, capitalism, the War on Terror, and the changing American dream. The discussion...

James Crossland is joined by aerospace historian and author Mark Piesing – author of N-4 Down: The Hunt for the Arctic Airship Italia – to explore the extraordinary life and legacy of British inventor and “father of drones” Archibald Low (1888–1956), from his early experiments with television to his pioneering work on the First World War’s Aerial Target – one of the first full-size radio-controlle...

For this episode, James is joined by the ever-game Jayne Friend to explore the early life of Charles Manson, how he built the Manson Family, his connections to the 1960s counterculture and his bizarre relationship with the Beach Boys James and Jayne trace Charles Manson's childhood, criminal career and repeated imprisonments before examining how his release into the social upheaval of late-19...

In part two of our Charles Manson episode, James and Jayne discuss how the Manson Family spiralled out of control in the summer of 1969, leading to the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. Picking up where the previous episode left off, this episode follows the Manson Family during their final months at Spahn Ranch as paranoia, drug use, violence and criminal activity escalated into murder. James and J...

Who was Basil Zaharoff and how did he lay Europe's path to the First World War? This week, James Crossland is joined by military historian and Not So Quiet on the Western Front   co-host Spencer Jones to examine the extraordinary life of Sir Basil Zaharoff, the mysterious international arms dealer whose influence stretched from the Ottoman Empire to Britain, Russia, Greece, Spain and Japan. T...

Who was Attila the Hun? Did he really bring down the Roman Empire? How much of his reputation as the "Scourge of God" is actually justified?  In this episode, James is joined by Jem Duducu (@jemduducu), author of The Devil's Horsemen: A Thousand Years of Conquest by Eurasian Steppe Horse Archers to separate fact from myth in the life, military campaigns and legacy of Attila the Hun...

James Jesse Strang, the only man in U.S. history to crown himself a king, is the focus of this podcast episode exploring his rise as a Mormon schismatic leader, cult founder, and self-declared monarch on Beaver Island, Michigan. Joined by Peter Zablocki ( History Shorts Podcast ), James uncovers the shocking story of Strang’s transformation from a sickly but highly ambitious child in upstate New Y...

Who was Sidney Gottlieb, and how did the CIA's MKUltra program attempt to use LSD and psychological warfare to create mind control during the Cold War? In Part One of this epic two-part episode, James is joined by Jayne Friend to explore the origins of MKUltra through the remarkable life of it's chief, Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA chemist who became America's leading architect of mind c...

James is joined once again by Jayne Friend for part two of our exploration of Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA chemist who led MK-Ultra, developed Cold War mind control experiments, and became involved in some of the agency's most controversial covert operations. This episode continues to story of Gottlieb's obsessions with LSD and psychological warfare, whilst covering his involvement in CIA as...

What can a video game teach us about American history, morality, capitalism, race, violence, and the myth of the Wild West? This week, James is joined by Torre Olsen (author of Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past ) to explore the moral grey areas of the Wild West by diving into the Red Dead Redemption video game franchise, and its powerful portrayal...

This week, James ( @historysdevils ) is joined by Edd Mair ( @eplmair ) for a double episode on the life of Andrew Jackson, examining how the seventh president of the United States rose from a frontier orphan to become a war hero, slaveholder, populist political figure, and one of the most influential and controversial presidents in American history. In this first part of Andrew Jackson's sto...

In part two of this double-episode on Andrew Jackson, James and Edd explore his rise to the presidency, his turbulent years in the White House, and the lasting impact of his populist politics on America. From the disputed election of 1824 to his victory in 1828, Andrew Jackson transformed American politics and became one of the most controversial presidents in U.S. history. This episode examines J...