Criminal Records Podcast

Isaac tells a story about Judaism's weirdest would-be messiah. Demetria adds ambiance by constantly arguing with him. This is the story of Sabbatai Zevi, whose quest to save the Jewish people turned him into a dangerous liability. Show notes and sources at this link

Do you think Canada is just America's conflict-adverse northern neighbor? Think again! This week, we go on a journey through some of Canada's strangest history, including a territory governed by an employee handbook, a polite uprising derailed by one rude man, and an exiled politician whose very understandable quest for a fairer legal system spiraled into delusions of messianic salvation. Show not...

Han van Meegeren might not have been loved by art critics, but his descent into the world of art forgery accidentally turned him into one of his country's least likely heroes. Join us for the twisted tale of an expert art forger, a high-ranking Nazi art thief, and a Jewish Dutch resistance hero whose espionage investigation turned into a friendship with one of the Netherlands' most flamboyant crim...

As we gear up for one of America's most momentous presidential elections, we look back on the man so bad at politics that he changed the way our country's elections worked forever. Meet Aaron Burr, the guy who caused so much chaos that America not only had to amend its own constitution to stop his shenanigans, it had to set its legal definition of treason after he attempted to create a new country...

This week, we're joined by Nikki Brueggeman for a discussion of two horrific hate crimes in early 20th century America. As we discuss the deaths of Mary Turner and Jesse Washington, we look at the way the NAACP worked to publicize the horrific injustice of lynchings, the reason we tell these stories with a focus on the victims first, and the way modern oral historians like Nikki are continuing the...

This Italian family's secret recipe requires a special ingredient: a fatal dose of arsenic. Join us for a story of murder most foul, corrupt priests, saleswomen with pockets full of poison, secret cabal of witches moving through European courts, a ceiling alligator, and Santa Claus's special bone juice. Show notes and sources at this link

Did an ancient Greek party girl get off on a capital charge because she flashed the judge? Or was this story just an excuse for artists to get away with painting bare breasts? This week, we dig into trial records, archeological evidence, and ancient gossip to try to get a sense of the woman behind the legend. Content note: This episode is about a historical figure who may or may not have been a se...

We're heading back to the wild west to meet one of America's smoothest criminals. Let Charles "Doc" Baggs teach you the art of stealing from the rich, giving great speeches, and staying one step ahead of the law. What do we learn when we listen to a criminal telling his side of the story reporters? Who shaped our understanding of the moral landscape of the American west? How cool is this dude, ser...

You've heard of Rosa Parks — but do you actually know the full story? This week, we dig into the brutal history of segregation in the United States, the difficult work of activism, and the way black civil rights leaders' stories are often taught as part of a whitewashed narrative that minimizes their agency and fails to engage with their actual political views. CONTENT NOTE: A lot of the advocacy...

It's Pride month, and you know what that means: It's time for a deep dive into the structural oppression of queer people in America, the exploitative underbelly of New York's mob-owned gay bars, and the night those tensions boiled over in 1969. What exactly was banned by sodomy laws and other laws used to target queer New Yorkers? Why was the mafia paying the police to keep gay bars open? And what...

This week, we cover one of the most shameful war crimes in American history--and the shockingly light sentence of the only man successfully convicted for it. What happens when business tactics are applied to warfare? Why did it take so long for William Calley's crimes to come to light? And why did so many Americans, including the president, believe he was justified in murdering hundreds of civilia...

This week, we bring you a story about a suspicious suicide, a vengeful spirit, and the wrath of the emperor. Why was a ghostly accountant out for revenge? How good was the Qing dynasty CSI team? And how did one of the most regimented legal systems in history end up with such a weird, orientalist misrepresentation in the English-speaking world? Show notes and sources at this link

In our first court case from the Islamic world, we meet one of history's greatest bureaucrats. Midhat Pasha was fantastic at taking control of troubled territories and coming up with grand new legal ideas, but he wasn't so great at playing politics. Meet the scholar who rose to be the Grand Vizier of an empire before he became the defendant in an unwinnable show trial. Show notes and sources at th...

Meet the woman who claimed to be a German princess, scammed a handful of husbands, palled around with pirates, and played her scandalous self on the stage. Why were so many English men so easy to dupe when a stranger showed up claiming noble heritage? How did a con artist become a celebrity? How much do we really know about Mary as a person, and how much did this self-made woman construct herself...

This week, we're covering the strange, sad case of Mary Mallon, one of America's most notorious killers—who never technically committed a crime. When is it illegal to spread a disease? Why did the Health Department have the power to detain people indefinitely? Does Mary deserve her infamy, or was she a victim of a system that was stacked against her from the start? Content note: This is mostly abo...

This week, Isaac and Demetria go back to the Wild West for our very first outlaw of the American frontier. There's rootin', there's tootin', there's plenty of shootin', and also a truly astonishing amount of...soap? Show notes, photos, and sources at this link (Note: This page contains a photograph of a dead body)

Disease! Rebellion! Weeb stuff! This week, we have it all, as we journey back to Wat Tyler's rebellion. Show notes and corrections at this link - We were on a lot of cold medicine while recording and made some mistakes, apologies!

This week, Isaac and Demetria talk about their first regicide. It's time for the trial and execution of King Charles I -- who denies that you have any legitimacy to listen to this podcast and proclaims that only God has the right to press the play button. Link to the show notes

This week, Isaac and Demetria talk about a workplace mass shooting and its relationship to employment in America. Expect a conversation ranging from gun regulation to the tenure system and beyond.  (Content note: This episode contains discussion of a mass shooting in a workplace, an attempted bombing, and a shooting in a private home) Show notes and sources

This week, Isaac and Demetria discuss the white nationalist murderer David Lane, who was inspired to join a radical neo-Nazi group called the Order which went on a year long crime spree up and down the West Coast in 1984-85. 

This week, we're covering the trial of Chinese swinger Ma Xiaohai, who was arrested for violating Chinese laws against "group licentiousness" as a crime that violates good social order. 

Demetria and Isaac continue their deep dive into the world of obscenity laws with a look at one of Japan's most infamous bad boys of porn, the AV director Muranishi Tooru. 

This week (and somewhat late), Isaac and Demetria talk about the trials (literally) and tribulations of the great American comedian Lenny Bruce, whose boundary-pushing comedy landed him in hot water on charges of obscenity around the United States. Show notes are linked here (Content note: While there's no visual material at the link that is sexual or shocking, some of the embedded content include...

This week, journey back to the first murder case in recorded history (at least that we were able to find). Who killed a temple functionary in the city of Nippur? Why was it definitely these three guys? Why are we putting the dead guy's wife on trial too? Partial answers to some of these questions, plus lots of complaining about the lack of user-friendly scholarship on ancient Sumer, all coming you...

It's time for our first case on the history of American slavery, featuring the bizarre legal and moral mess that allowed black Africans fighting for their freedom to be accused of kidnapping themselves. Our show notes are linked here