Mysteries and Histories

This week we've got part one of a two part series focusing on the Texas Killing Fields/I-45 murders, a decades long web of disappearances and murders along the I-45 between Houston and Galveston, Texas. In this episode we focus on the crimes throughout the 70s and a couple of early suspects.

This week we're looking at a Jane Doe case from 1960, when a 2-7 year old girl was found half-buried in a creek bed in Yuvapai County, Arizona. Almost 62 years on and we still have no answers, but her DNA is currently being analysed in the search for an identity. 

On 9th February 2018, David Scott Elmquist died from self-immolation and the authorities were quick to rule it a suicide. But in the months that passed, David's family started to have some questions, there was some things that just did not make sense in the following investigation and now they're desperate for answers and for the case to be reviewed. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/...

Sometimes you need something a little bit lighter, so this week we're taking a look at the everlasting mystery of Oak Island, a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia where over two centuries ago, a seemingly never-ending pit was discovered. There have long been rumours of buried treasure, but nothing substantial has ever been found, bar some mysteriously inscribed stone, wooden platforms and t...

In 1814 a large brewery in the middle of London suffered an exploding vat of beer and although to some this might sound like a dream, the real story was tragic. Let's learn about it...

Today's story is more of a conversation starter than my usual mystery. In the 1960's, Ruth Ellis was convicted of the murder of David Blakely and was subsequently ordered to hang. The British public was outraged and believed that there were enough mitigating circumstances that her life should have been spared. What do you think?

This week we're taking a look at the Dane County Chimney Doe, a skeleton found in a chimney in Madison, Wisconsin in 1989 that still remains unidentified. This is a Doe case that's proving particularly hard to get answers to - how did they even end up in the chimney in the first place? How were they not reported as missing?

This week we're travelling back in time to the early 10th century, when Theodosia Burr, the only surviving daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr, boarded a ship to New York only for it to never arrive at its destination. Over two centuries later, and what happened to Theodosia is still a complete mystery, with only one clue in the form of a portrait of a beautiful woman. 

Two days before Christmas in 1974, three girls went to do some last minute Christmas shopping at their local mall in Fort Worth, Texas, but they never came home. The next day a mysterious letter arrives, saying that the girls decided to run away for a week, but were they the ones who wrote it?

This week we're taking a look at a historical story, with the invention of vaccines by a man called Edward Jenner to put an end to 'the scourge of the earth' (as he put it) smallpox - because apparently I just love the drama. 

This week we're taking a look at a small, unknown case from the sleepy village of Eversley in Hampshire. Jacqueline Palmer-Radford was found murdered in her own kitchen in 1992, and despite some interesting leads no answers have ever been found. 

This week we're going back to the 1970s to take a look at the case of Margaret Ellen Fox, a 14 year old who disappeared from New Jersey after going to meet a man called John Marshall about a babysitting job. But John Marshall didn't exist, and Margaret was never seen again.

In late 2006, the bodies of four women were found in a drainage ditch behind a motel just outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey. They were all facing east, towards the city, all murdered under very similar circumstances. The killer, or killers, have never been found. What happened to them?

Be warned: this week's episode is not one for the faint-hearted as we are venturing into the world of parasites with a look at how hookworm led to the negative stereotypes of the American south. 

This week we're diving into the crimes of the mysterious Dr No, an apparent serial killer who roamed Ohio throughout the 80s and 90s, dumping the bodies of sex workers alongside the major interstates. It was recently reported that Dr No has been captured, but is this really the case? Let's find out.

This week I want to share the story of Ernie Ortiz, who was sadly murdered in Garden City, Kansas, in 2019. Two years on and there are no answers, the family are desperate for justice.

This week we're taking a look at the case of Tammy Vincent, who was unidentified for almost 3 decades. Thanks to advances in DNA technology, she eventually got identified, only to find that that led to few further answers about who killed her. Can we help find answers?

In 1966, thousands of tonnes of mining waste fell on top of a small welsh village called Aberfan. Sadly, the majority of this landed on the primary school, burying the majority of the village's children alive. How did this come to happen and why?

This week we're exploring a John Doe case from here in the UK. In 2015 a male body found in Clocaenog Forest in Wales and it's suspected that he'd been there a long time before this discovery. Who is he and how did he end up where he did?

This week we're going to be learning about the Tokaimura Criticality Accident from Japan, in which three workers received high doses of radiation - one of them, Hisashi Ouchi, receiving the most radiation ever received by a human. I

This week we're taking another look at piece of forgotten history, the UK's Canary Girls, who during World War 1 put their lives at risk to play their part in the war efforts. Why have they been pushed to the side?

This week we're taking a look at the decade old disappearance of Lauren Spierer, who disappeared after a night out with friends. With there never being a single clue found as to what happened to her, it's important to share her story as far as possible with the hope that one day, it might reach the right person. 

This week we're taking a look at another unidentified woman, Grundy County Jane Doe or Jane Seneca Doe, who was found in a ditch in Grundy County, Illinois in the 70s. Despite having found a close familial match through genetic genealogy, investigators are still missing that one puzzle piece that could provide an answer as to who our Jane Doe was. This case is SO close to being solved and all it's...

This week we're covering our first serial killer on the podcast, by taking a deep dive into the crimes of Israel Keyes, who managed to go undetected between 2001 and 2012. We know details of three of his murders, but there are thought to be 8 more that we know nothing about at all - who are his victims?

This week we're exploring a very interesting piece of history: the Satanic Panic. How deep does the cause of the panic go, could it have been avoided and what have the repercussions been over the coming years?