Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

While the Coen brothers refuse to confirm it, many believe that their movie "Fargo" was inspired by the Carol Thompson murder case. She was viciously killed in her comfortable Saint Paul home by a hitman hired by her eccentric husband, T. Eugene Thompson, in March of 1963, leaving behind four small children. It was an absolutely sensational case, one not only covered extensively by local press, bu...

Some of the most notorious cases in American history were solved by the masterful techniques of forensics expert Dr. Edward Oscar Heinrich. He was known as the "American Sherlock Holmes" for his use of science and deduction to solve what many considered unsolvable cases, including Oregon's infamous 1923 Siskiyou "train robbery"/multi-murder, and San Francisco's 1921 Fatty Arbuckle murder case. My...

In late October of 1928, authorities in the small town of Lake Bluff, Illinois discovered a grisly scene in the village hall basement. They found a young woman named Elfreida Knaak, naked, horribly burned and barely clinging to life, next to a furnace. From that point on, investigators would uncover a bizarre story, including a secret affair, mystical Christian rituals, and contradictory deathbed...

On March 6th, 1873, a brutal double ax murder took the lives of two Norwegian women living on the isolated Smuttynose Island, one of the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. My guest is J. Dennis Robinson, a prolific writer, historian and steward of Smuttynose Island, and author of "Mystery on the Isles of Shoals: Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873". He not...

David Grann, author of the New York Times Bestselling "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI", is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious. He talks about his research into a spree of murders of oil-rich Osage Indians in 1920s Oklahoma. Dozens and dozens of people were being murdered in a crime wave that became so sensational that J Edgar Hoover and his fl...

In the summer of 1937, in an idyllic neighborhood of Los Angeles called Inglewood, the unspeakable happened. Three little girls were lured from a park, assaulted and murdered. The sensational case, known as the "Babes of Inglewood" Murders, would shake Depression-era America. My guest, Pamela Everett, is not only an attorney with the InnocenceProject and a UNR professor of criminal justice, but al...

Alvin "Creepy" Karpis could claim many things in his life. He was not only the brains behind the Barker-Karpis Gang, but the last public enemy of the 1930s, one of J. Edgar Hoover's most hated adversaries, and the longest serving inmate in Alcatraz history. Julie Thompson, author of "The Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio: Alvin "Creepy" Karpis and his Road to Alcatraz" is my gues...

In this episode, we examine the most notorious witch hunt in American history, in Salem, Massachusetts. Hundreds of women and men were accused of witchcraft by young, "afflicted" girls, and many were executed. My guest is Mary Beth Norton, award-winning historian and professor of American history at Cornell University. She joins me to talk about her book, "In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraf...

In early 1946, a serial killer nicknamed "The Phantom Killer" (aka the "Moonlight Killer") terrorized the citizens of Texarkana (Arkansas and Texas). It was one of the most sensational series of murders in post-war America. Dr. James Presley is my guest, and the author of "The Phantom Killer - Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town In Terror". He walks us throug...

Most of us are probably familiar with the Kingston Trio song, "Tom Dooley", but fewer may realize that it was based on the true life murder of Laura Foster in 1866 North Carolina. Charlotte Corbin Barnes is an unapologetic supporter of Tom Dooley's innocence, and explains the crime, the complications of the trial due to the intense political climate in North Carolina in the era of Reconstruction,...

In October 1922, a sensational murder gripped the city of London. While on a walk home after a show, Percy Thompson was stabbed by Freddy Bywaters, the lover of his wife, Edith. Passionate love letters written by her, including mentions of the desire to murder Percy, helped send not only Bywaters to the gallows, but her as well. My guest is bestselling author Laura Thompson, and she joins Most Not...

On the evening of November 17th, 1973, five teenagers, enjoying a campfire at the Gitchie-Manitou State Park in Iowa, were terrorized by three sociopathic brothers, who would end up murdering the four boys in brutal fashion. The lone survivor, Sandra Cheskey, was raped and released, and not surprisingly deeply traumatized by what she'd witnessed and experienced. She would become known from that po...

While much is written about Prohibition-era gangsters and bootlegging, the focus is typically in places like Chicago, Kansas City and New York City. Far less known, but very compelling, is the history of the Mexican-American border in the Southwest in the 1920s, and the battles between Old West-era lawmen and the dangerous gangsters who were intent on smuggling booze into the United States. Samuel...

One of the world's most preeminent Ripperologists, Tom Wescott, author of "The Bank Holiday Murders" and "Ripper Confidential" is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious. His extensive research into Jack the Ripper/Whitechapel murders give his a unique perspective into this truly iconic true crime cold case. Focusing on some of the more intriguing peripheral players in the events, includ...

In 1919, eight players on the Chicago White Sox baseball team, including "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, were implicated in what would go down in infamy as the Black Sox scandal. In exchange for money, members of the team agreed to intentionally throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. New York underworld gangster Arnold Rothstein is widely suspected of being the primary fixer in the sensational cri...

When many of us think about Old West gunfighters, our minds turn to men like Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, and Billy the Kid. But there were others equally as compelling, including the two that are the subject of my guest G.R. Williamson's recent book, called "Texas Pistoleers: The True Story of Ben Thompson and King Fisher". Thompson and Fisher each had their own unique and violent lives, but happened...

Emma Barrett Molloy was a well-known Evangelical Christian, temperance and women's rights activist in the 1870s and 80s. But in 1885 she found herself embroiled in a lurid scandal involving a con-artist named George Graham. Graham married Emma's foster daughter, Cora Lee, but without divorcing his first wife, Sarah. When Sarah eventually found and confronted him, Graham murdered her and attempted...

My conversation continues with Ellen Poulsen, co-author (with Lori Hyde) of "Chasing Dillinger: Police Captain Matt Leach, J. Edgar Hoover and the Rivalry to Capture Public Enemy No. 1". In this second part of the interview, Ellen explains the struggles Matt Leach continued to face as he tried to prove East Chicago cops were in on the death of Dillinger, J Edgar Hoover's personal crusade to ruin L...

Ellen Poulsen is back, this time to discuss her new book (co-written with Lori Hyde), "Chasing Dillinger: Police Captain Matt Leach, J. Edgar Hoover and the Rivalry to Capture Public Enemy No. 1."  She walks us through John Dillinger's rise in 1933 and 34 to gangster infamy, including his Crown Point prison escape, and his intense rivalry with Matt Leach of the Indiana State Police, who was singul...

Just in time for the Halloween season! This episode explores the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, a 15th century warrior-ruler infamous for his extreme brutality and cruelty. My guest Leif Pettersen, a former travel writer with Lonely Planet, has spent considerable time in Romania, and through his writing, research and wanderings, developed a special attachment to the real life Dracula. His book on...

Bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin joins me to talk about his book, "Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates". He discusses the Golden Age of Piracy in 17th and 18th century America, explains why pirates were so prolific during this time, dispels some prevailing pirate myths, and tells stories about some of most infamous (like Blackbeard) and the most murderou...

In May of 1980, a brazen group of four heavily armed men, in an attempt to rob the Security Pacific Bank in Norco, California, ended up responsible for one of the most violent criminal events in American history. It would be a massive shootout against an underarmed police department, and would fundamentally change how law enforcement departments across the country dealt with crime. My guest, autho...

In the aftermath of the American Civil War there was a sharp rise of interest from Americans interested in communicating with the dead, and the Spiritualism movement grew increasingly popular. This, combined with the new technology of photography, gave rise to a scam called "spirit photography". The main perpetrator of the fraud was William H. Mumler, who convinced many that he could capture image...

In October of 1900, four men accompanied a young woman named Jennie Bosschieter to a New Jersey saloon, where one of them slipped a large amount of chloral hydrate into her drink. She was then taken on a ride to a remote place, sexually assaulted, and eventually died from the overdose. My guest is Kimberly Tilley, author of "The Poisoned Glass", and she tells the disturbing story of the murder, th...

My guest is Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of "Sin in the Second City", "American Rose", and "Liar, Temptress, Soldier. Spy". She discusses her new book, "The Ghosts of Eden Park", and the wild story of George Remus, the most powerful bootlegger in early Prohibition-era America. It's a roller-coaster tale - his rise, his fall, and the strange love triangle he shared with wife Imog...