Fact or Fiction: A Mostly-True Crime History Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest is author Jane Simon Ammeson, who writes about travel, food, and history. She's the author of 18 books, including several about historical true crime. In this episode, she shares highlights from her 2015 book, A Jazz Age Murder in Northwest Indiana: The Tragic Betrayal of Nettie Diamond.  As always, Jane will infuse one fictional detail into this unbelievable bu...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest is author Jeffrey D. Simon, author of several books about terrorism and a former RAND analyst who also taught at UCLA. As a guest on Fact or Fiction , Jeff has agreed to share some of the highlights from his most recent book, The Bulldog Detective: William J. Flynn and America’s First War Against the Mafia, Spies, and Terrorists . Flynn’s career provides a fascinatin...

Send us Fan Mail St. Louis was a rapidly growing frontier town in 1849. That year, the city experienced a great fire that destroyed the city's business district, an epidemic of cholera that decimated the population, and a steady influx of would-be miners on their way to the California hills. Also, there was a sensational murder and an equally sensational trial. Christopher Allen Gorden, autho...

Send us Fan Mail Nicknamed "Liquor Island," Long Island was a center for bootlegging and rumrunning for the New York metropolitan area during Prohibition. Amy Kasuga Folk's book Rumrunners of Suffolk County: Tales from Liquor Island shares highlights from her book and inserts a fictional detail in her four choices at the end of the episode. Will you identify the fiction? Will I? Lis...

Send us Fan Mail In the first half of the twentieth century, John R. Brinkley was a celebrated and successful "doctor" renowned for his ability to use goat organs to help humans with infertility. In addition to his "medical" success, Brinkley was also an early adopter of radio technology, which he used to advertise his hospital and his other medicines. In this first episode of...

Send us Fan Mail In the late nineteenth century, the West was wild all the way back to the Mississippi River. Only a day's walk from the progressive big city of St. Louis, rural Jefferson County citizens were struggling with an outbreak of thefts, arson, and more. Mack Marsden, successful livestock trader and family man, was accused of being involved. After Mack was shot and killed, there rem...

Send us Fan Mail From 1848 to 1881, a small Utopian colony in upstate New York—the Oneida Community—was known for its shocking sexual practices, from open marriage and free love to the sexual training of young boys by older women. And in 1881, a one-time member of the Oneida Community—Charles Julius Guiteau—assassinated President James Garfield in a brutal crime that shook America to its core. Sus...

Send us Fan Mail For this special episode Tracy Marak, member of the Belle Toffee family, is my guest. She shares the Belle Toffee story, and then tries to identify the fiction in the mostly-true story about another candy maker, Forrest E. Mars. Although this story doesn't fit neatly into the true crime category, Forrest Mars' road to ownership of Mars, Inc. wasn’t a smooth one and it ce...

Send us Fan Mail James Brockman rose from shady character to preeminent defense attorney in Houston, Texas by representing gang leaders, jilted spouses, wealthy storekeepers, drunken on-duty policemen, and more. His career gained national recognition, including his involvement in the most famous American murder case of the young twentieth century, when he himself was murdered leaving a dubious leg...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, authors Victoria Cosner and Lorelie Shannon share a mostly-true story from their book Missouri's Murderous Matrons .  Emma Heppermann, a black widow killer, and Bertha Gifford, an angel of mercy, used arsenic to murder unsuspecting family and friends for decades. The story of how they managed to evade discovery is unbelievable. As always, these authors insert...

Send us Fan Mail On Christmas Eve of 1900, someone got away with murder. Frank Richardson, wealthy business owner and family man, was shot as he entered his home. Although many people may have wanted him dead, the crime has remained unsolved to this day. Kimberly Tilley, author of Has it Come to This? The Mysterious, Unsolved Murder of Frank Richardson tells us the mostly-true story about Frank Ri...

Send us Fan Mail Litigator and author Cecil Kuhne shares a mostly-true story about Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, the subject of his book KGB Man: The Cold War's Most Notorious Soviet Agent and the First to be Exchanged at the Bridge of Spies . Abel was captured by the FBI in 1957 after an inept colleague betrayed him to the US.  Abel's trial, his conviction, and his eventual exchange across th...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest, Connie Yen, is the author of Sinner and Savior: Emma Molloy and the Graham Murder , the true story of an 1886 murder in Greene County known as “The Graham Tragedy.” In 1886, the nude body of Sarah Graham was found in a well on the Molloy property. Subsequent investigations uncovered a bigamous marriage and other allegedly scandalous happenings in the home of tempera...

Send us Fan Mail H. H. Holmes is one of the most infamous killers in the history of Chicago and the United States.  In late 1894, when authorities arrested Holmes on a warrant for horse theft in Texas, they learned Holmes, the architect and former owner of the “murder castle” in Chicago not only looked like the villain from a melodrama but acted the part, too.  Although he confessed to killing 27...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Fact or Fiction: Author Series, Bryan Johnston, author of Deep in the Woods shares the story of the 1935 kidnapping of George Weyerhaeuser, but he adds one fictional detail.  Will I guess it?  Will you? Play along with me and then order a copy of Deep in the Woods to learn all the stranger-than-fiction details about the kidnapping, the kidnappers, and the rest o...

Send us Fan Mail This is the first episode in what I’m calling the Fact or Fiction: Author Series.  Owen Pataki, co-author of Where the Light Falls and author of Searchers in Winter is my guest.  Searchers in Winter brings events of the Napoleonic Wars to life with its compelling plot, engaging characters, and exciting action sequences.  In this show I have a brief chat with Owen about his book, a...

Send us Fan Mail This episode focuses on the tragic murder of railroad clerk Clarence D. Hiller; the man accused of committing the crime, Thomas Jennings; and the advanced forensic technique of fingerprint identification used successfully for the first time in a murder trial in the United States. Please note that, while I've researched this entire story, I have included one fictional element....

Send us Fan Mail In late December of 1903, the beautiful new Iroquois Theater in Chicago performed a matinee of the family-friendly musical Mr. Bluebeard to a sold-out audience.  Midway through the performance, an overloaded stage light caught fire, and what happened is stranger than fiction.  Listen carefully because it's tricky to know what's Fact or Fiction! Support the show Images an...

Send us Fan Mail In April of 1924, Beulah Annan shot her lover in the bedroom she shared with her husband Al.  She rested next to the dead man and played one song over and over on her phonograph until Al arrived home.  What followed is such a sensational story, that reporter Maureen Watkins used it as the basis for her successful play, Chicago .  That play was the basis for the hit musical and lat...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's Fiblett episode, Laura shares a story of Western criminals in the big city, a train robbery, a bank robbery, and butter heist.  Three are published stories, but one is fictional.  Listen carefully because it's tough to know if what you hear is Fact or Fiction! Support the show Images and resources used in this episode can be found at factorfictionpodcast.c...

Send us Fan Mail Bluebeard is a French folk-tale about a villainous man who married and then killed multiple wives.  The American version of this story isn't a folk tale--it's real.  Today's episode of Fact or Fiction examines the story of Johann Hoch, a man accused of marrying scores of women, absconding with their fortunes, and even murdering a few.  Listen carefully because it&ap...

Send us Fan Mail Today's minisode focuses on cases involving insurance scams--three of them are real and one is my invention.  Can you identify which stories are Fact or Fiction? Support the show Images and resources used in this episode can be found at factorfictionpodcast.com. If you enjoyed this show, please support the pod by giving it a five star rating, writing a complimentary review, o...

Send us Fan Mail In the early 1920's, Chicago reporters Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht encountered and sensationalized the highly unusual murder of a young mother-to-be, Ruth Wanderer.  These two reporters, who  went on to become decorated Hollywood screenwriters, called Ruth Wanderer's tragic story, The Case of the Ragged Stranger!  Listen carefully because it's tricky to know whi...

Send us Fan Mail Fiblett 2.6 is a random assortment of entertaining articles about an honorable thief, three girls wrongly imprisoned, a disgruntled husband, and two courageous little boys. Three of them are from published newspaper accounts, but one is my own creation.  Listen closely.  Is it Fact or Fiction? Support the show Images and resources used in this episode can be found at factorfiction...

Send us Fan Mail Amos J. Snell, a wealthy real estate owner in Chicago, was murdered in his home in 1888.  The identity of the murderer remains unknown to this day.  Listen to learn what we do know about Amos J. Snell, his murder, and the aftershocks of his death that affected his family for generations.  Is it Fact or Fiction?  You be the judge! Support the show Images and resources used in this...