Mystery on the Rocks

One of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century... Over two nights in August 1969 members of the cult The Manson Family carried out seven brutal murders including that of rising Hollywood star Sharon Tate, who was 8 months pregnant at the time. They were acting under the orders of their deranged leader Charles Manson, who was trying to precipitate a race war and bring about his prophesied 'He...

In June 1967 Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield died in a terrible car accident after a turbulent career and much publicised private life. However, there are some who believe to this day that there was more to this car accident and Jayne's death... Plenty of outlandish theories and rumours abound, none more so than the involvement of Satan himself... At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retir...

Walt Disney died in 1966 but rumours persist that he insisted his body be cryogenically frozen in the hope that one day he could be revived and able to see the future. With an inventive mind and always one eye on the future, could Walt Disney's body really be cryogenically frozen beneath the Pirates of the Carribean ride in Disneyland...? At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retired sleut...

A slight left turn for us this week as our Hollywood series hits the 60s! And what would a Hollywood series be without an episode on the ultimate movie star Marilyn Monroe!? While not technically a mystery of course, when Marilyn took her own life in 1962 it nevertheless set in motion an awful lot of conspiracy theories as to what actually happened - including murder, cover-up and some rather outl...

In June 1959 the actor George Reeves is found in his bedroom, dead from a gunshot wound to the head. World famous for his role as Superman in the hugely popular television series, Reeves had found himself typecast as the Man of Steel. Unable to secure other roles did this drive him to take his own life? Or do the presence of additional bullets at the scene when only one shot was heard, plus an aff...

In October 1949 professional dancer Jean Spangler vanished without trace... Not even her purse, which was found two days later, could help detectives find her, or what happened to her. An enigmatic note handwritten by Jean found inside seemed at first to be a big clue but ultimately led nowhere. Did she vanish voluntarily with a gangster lover? Or is the answer altogether darker and more tragic......

In June 1947 the prominent gangster, feared mobster and casino mogul Bugsy Siegel was shot dead following an eye-popping 20-year career involving extortion, bootlegging, robbery and killing, including becoming one of the founders and driving forces behind notorious organised crime group Murder, Inc... So was it a hit ordered by disgruntled mob bosses? Or someone just frightened for their life? At...

February 1947. Mere weeks after the Black Dahlia killing Jeanne French is found by a Los Angeles roadside, naked and beaten to death and with an obscene message scrawled across her body in red lipstick. With the murder of Elizabeth Short taking precedence with police and press alike, the investigation into Jeanne's murder fizzled out - only to be opened again three years later... Was it one of her...

One of the most enduring unsolved murders of the 20th Century is the brutal killing of Elizabeth Short, otherwise known as The Black Dahlia. In January 1947 her body was found badly mutilated in an LA neighborhood and the case, which included the killer seemingly taunting the police and the press, caused a media frenzy. A litany of suspects, over 60 confessions and a mysterious suicide note offer...

October, 1944. A wealthy oil heiress who is nevertheless trying to make her own way in Hollywood is found murdered, face down in her overflowing bathtub. Defensive wounds suggest she put up a hell of a fight yet the apartment shows no signs of a struggle. Further clues point to a premeditated killing and the case throws up several suspects yet none of them could have possibly done it... So who did...

In September 1943, a car careens out of control on a busy boulevard before coming to an abrupt stop in an adjacent field. The driver, wearing only swimming trunks, staggers out calling for help with a fatal stab wound in his back. There's blood all over the car interior but no evidence that anyone was in the car with him. And the murder weapon is nowhere to be seen... The victim? Actor David Bacon...

Through the night of February 24th 1942, LA was plunged into a blackout as American forces at the beginning of their war effort defended the county from an enemy attack. However, it became apparent the following morning that there had been no enemy and no attack. Any damage sustained had been from the American troops themselves, so what were they firing at? At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll f...

Not every movie star was able to make the transition from silent film to the 'talkies' but phenomenal actress Thelma Todd was one of the few who could. Comedy, drama, thriller - she could do anything, with a long and glittering career ahead of her... Until she is found dead at the age of 29 in the garage of her married lover. At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retired sleuth, the barten...

1924, a party to celebrate the birthday of revolutionary movie producer Thomas H Ince takes place aboard the luxury yacht of pioneering media mogul William Randolph Hearst. A day later, Ince is dead. But what really happened has been subject to speculation for nearly 100 years... At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retired sleuth, the bartender trying to settle his tab, and the down...

While last week's case was still ongoing, prominent film director William Desmond Taylor was found shot in the back in his Hollywood home. A litany of suspects and a heavily contaminated crime scene mean this mystery has remained unsolved for nearly 100 years. So who did it...? At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retired sleuth, the bartender trying to settle his tab, and the down-on-her...

Hello listener, and welcome to something a little different...    Join us for the first in a mini series where Mystery on the Rocks Do Hollywood! Murders, mysteries and intrigue from the Golden Age of movie stars and Hollywood's seedy underbelly... And to kick things off - in 1921, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was tried THREE TIMES for the murder of actress Virginia Rappe.    But wh...

A blind architect found bludgeoned in an empty mansion... £12 million of missing gold bars... The search for Camelot... And an ubercool guest as musician, YouTuber and LGBT activist Katy Montgomerie joins us to help piece it all together. Katy is a leading force in trans activism and works tirelessly to make the world a better place for everyone. You can also hear her as guitarist and bassist...

Beaming all the way over the Atlantic is fantastic writer and comedian Mike Balazo. Winning the Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Variety of Sketch Comedy Programme just hasn't been quite enough for Mike so he swung by our humble bar to help us out with the ghoulish Sherman Murders... At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a retired sleuth, the bartender trying to settle his tab, an...

Joining us for some lockdown-eased larks this week is comedy producer and director extraordinaire Saima Ferdows! As well as racking up credits impressive credits on Channel 4 and ITV, Saima is part of a new creative generation actively seeking to uncover and promote BAME talent. She joined us for a natter about an enduring case - just what happened to pilot Peter Gibbs... At the Mystery on the Roc...

In an unprecedented turn of events, our guest this week just... Never showed up. But we recorded the ensuing chat regardless! Plus, a former guest messaged with a burning question, a listener emailed in and probably FOR REAL solved a previous case, Sooz went rogue and invented another new cocktail and we all had a lot of fun pretending our missing guest was meant to be Dominic Cummings, the govern...

We've put on our best clothes and gone all serious (of course not) as we are now bona fide political interviewers... We're joined this week by former Member of Parliament Danielle Rowley. Danielle served as Labour MP for Midlothian from 2017 to 2019 and was Shadow Minister for Climate Justice and Green Jobs and she joins us to go over the mysterious disappearance of a firebrand socialist politicia...

Responsibly distancing herself from everyone else in the bar this week is one-liner comedian extraordinaire Adele Cliff. Adele's jokes have featured in Dave's Best Jokes of the Fringe every year since 2016 and she is the UK Pun Champion of 2020. With such a forensic mind when it comes to words, can she help the gang solve the grisly Icebox Murders? At the Mystery on the Rocks bar you’ll find a ret...

Joining us in lockdown this week is comedian, singer, actor and dancer Charlie Baker! Charlie has turned his hand to most things and excelled at all of them, from musicals to stand-up and even to an appearance in Doctor Who! He currently hosts his own radio show on TalkSport and graced our bar to help us with a mystery right from the very heartland of his home county... The Devil's Footprints... A...

Popping into the bar today is phenomenally funny comedian Carl Donnelly. Carl is also a bona fide podcasting legend having hosted 'The Carl Donnelly & Chris Martin Podcast' and 'Babysitting Trevor' and currently hosting the amazing 'Two Vegan Idiots' with Julian Deane. And he brings a slight change of format this week as the gang recount an already solved mystery.    But the story wa...

Popping into the bar during his daily outdoor exercise allowance is the hilarious comedian and professional poker player Ken Cheng. As well as his own series on BBC Radio 4, you might have heard and seen Ken in all manner of comedy shows such as The Now Show, Ladhood and Harry Hill's Tea Time among many others. He applies his formidable mathematical brain in helping the gang crack the case of The...