S2 Ep11: Buck v. Bell: When the Courts Decided Who Could Have Kids
A young woman named Carrie Buck was not only deemed too unfit to raise her daughter in 1927, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared she was too stupid to procreate, period. And that decision, sparked by the so-called eugenics movement, paved the way for hundreds of thousands of people to be sterilized through the 1970s. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from ...
40m Mar 28, 2022
40m
S2 Ep10: Terror at the Tewksbury Almshouse
Almshouses in the 19th and early 20th centuries were meant to help society's most vulnerable, but in the 1880s, one in Tewksbury, Massachusetts was accused of such shocking treatment that the governor ordered a months-long investigation that dominated headlines nationwide. Among the claims: that the skin of patients who died was tanned and turned into curiosities for sale. "Crimes of the Centu...
42m Mar 14, 2022
42m
S2 Ep9: Ken McElroy: Murder in the Town Square
Ken McElroy was killed outside, in broad daylight, with some 60 witnesses watching -- and yet no one copped to having seen a thing. McElroy, who'd long been known as a town bully in Skidmore, Missouri, was shot dead in 1981 after terrorizing his neighbors, two of whom he shot. When the system seemed to fail at holding McElroy accountable, townsfolk took matters into their own hands. "Crimes of...
39m Mar 07, 2022
39m
S2 Ep8: The Mobster and the Movie Star: The Murder of Johnny Stompanato
The Roberts murder discussed in last week's episode wasn't the only murder tied to "Peyton Place," the fictional town depicted in Grace Metallious' 1956 book. Just after Hollywood legend Lana Turner earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the film version of the tale, her mobster boyfriend turned up dead. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag ...
39m Feb 28, 2022
39m
S2 Ep7: The Peyton Place Murder
When the groundbreaking book "Peyton Place" hit bookshelves in 1956, the murder tale at its center was so scandalous that many stores banned it outright. But the truth is that author Grace Metallious ripped that tale from the headlines -- and even softened its edges a bit. The real-life story centered on Sylvester Roberts, who was killed in 1946 by the daughter he had raped. "Crimes of the Cen...
37m Feb 21, 2022
37m
S2 Ep6: Carl Panzram: Forgotten Monster
Carl Panzram had a rough life growing up, so he decided to make life hell for everyone around him -- especially innocent young boys. When Panzram finally owned up to his crimes, his confession was so outlandish that authorities thought he was full of it. But then one grisly story was confirmed after another, and soon Panzram earned a reputation as a butcher of humanity. "Crimes of the Centurie...
37m Feb 14, 2022
37m
S2 Ep5: The Bludgeoning of Edwin Burdick
The most popular motives for murder are money and sex. That's as true today as it was in 1903 when Edwin Burdick was found brutally bludgeoned in the den of his home. Soon, the nation would learn that Burdick was an unwilling participant of a love triangle that surely got him killed. But who did it? Was it Burdick's cheating wife or her adoring lover? "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.cent...
34m Feb 07, 2022
34m
S2 Ep4: Too Scandalous for the Papers: The Hix-Snook Case
Theora Hix was an enigma to those who knew her. She was witty, intelligent, and ambitious, but fiercely secretive. So when she turned up dead in the summer of 1926, investigators at first had no idea who might have been responsible. Within hours, however, Hix's sex life became national news as two of her lovers were arrested on suspicion of murder -- including James H. Snooks, an Olympic gold m...
40m Jan 31, 2022
40m
S2 Ep3: Murder at Road Hill House
When a beloved 3-year-old boy went missing, only to be discovered soon after in an outhouse with his throat slit, suspicion at first settled on the child's nursemaid in a London-area town in 1860. After local police failed to find any evidence, a brilliant detective was dispatched from the Metropolitan Police. Jonathan Whicher turned his attention away from the lower-class servants living in th...
41m Jan 24, 2022
41m
S2 Ep2: The Galvanizing Murder of Emmett Till
A fun-loving Chicago teenager convinced his mom to let him visit relatives in Mississippi over the summer of 1955. Three days after his arrival, 14-year-old Emmett Till was viciously murdered. Because his mother insisted that the world see the violence inflicted upon her son, the case made international news and galvanized the civil rights movement in the United States. "Crimes of the Centurie...
43m Jan 17, 2022
43m
S2 Ep1: The Cleveland Torso Murders
On a crisp fall morning in 1935, two young boys made a grisly discovery in Kingsbury Run, an area in southeast Cleveland, Ohio. The boys, ages 16 and 12, had been playing catch but lost control of the ball. To retrieve it, they ran down a hill affectionally called Jackass Hill, and were stopped in their tracks by the sight of a man’s headless body. When police arrived, they'd find another emasc...
43m Jan 10, 2022
43m
S1 Ep42: The Osage Nation Murders
When members of the incredibly wealthy Osage Nation started dropping dead of mysterious ailments in 1920s Oklahoma, few people in state power paid it much mind. After all, many of those who could do something about it were benefiting from the deaths. Eventually, with the help of a still-evolving agency called the FBI, federal authorities uncovered an unthinkable conspiracy known today as the Re...
39m Oct 04, 2021
39m
S1 Ep41: Richard Biegenwald: The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer
It's possible no one would have known that Richard Biegenwald was a serial killer if he hadn't shown a dead woman's body to a friend he wanted to enlist as a murderous protege. Once police started digging into Richard Biegenwald, they uncovered decades of horrific crimes -- many of which he said he committed just for the thrill of it. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " ...
37m Sep 27, 2021
37m
S1 Ep40: Danny Rolling: The Gainesville Ripper
When five college students in Florida were brutally slain in a four-day span in 1990, it sent shockwaves across the nation as newscasters made comparisons to serial killer Ted Bundy. Police frantically worked to stop this new madman before his body count got any higher. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab (https://www.patreon.com/grabbag...
41m Sep 20, 2021
41m
S1 Ep39: The Theft of the Mona Lisa
As soon as Leonardo da Vinci unveiled the Mona Lisa in the early 1500s, the art world recognized it as a masterpiece. But it wasn't until centuries later that her face became one of the most famous in the world -- thanks to one of the most brazen art heists in history. This crime of the century crosses the pond. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab ...
37m Sep 13, 2021
37m
S1: The Death of Kendrick Johnson (from "Strange and Unexplained")
Hey, COTC listeners! We're taking a break for the holiday this week, but we wanted to share an episode from another Obsessed Network show with you.  From "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan," this episode looks at the tragic death of Kendrick Johnson.  On January 11, 2013, the body of the 17-year-old high school student was found inside a vertical rolled up mat in the gymnasium. Was Kendr...
36m Sep 06, 2021
36m
S1 Ep38: Susan Smith: More than a Monster
A distraught young mother pounded on the door of a stranger's house and told a story that riveted the nation: She'd been carjacked while driving an empty stretch of road, and the man who'd held her at gunpoint took not only her car, but her two young sons strapped into the car seats. As Susan Smith publicly pleaded for her boys to be returned unharmed, she hid a terrible secret that would shock...
37m Aug 30, 2021
37m
S1 Ep37: Cold War Espionage: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
To outsiders, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg seemed like a typical, if not downright boring, American couple. But then the U.S. government got a tip that the parents of two young boys had provided top-secret information about the nation's efforts to develop the first atomic weapon. Soon, the couple would face trial in one of the highest-profile espionage cases in the country's history. "Crimes of ...
41m Aug 23, 2021
41m
S1 Ep36: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
People enjoying a warm, sunny Saturday in New York City first noticed smoke arising from a building at about 4:40 p.m. and rushed to gather at the base of a 10-story building that was quickly engulfed in flames. The scene greeting them was horrific: Dozens of workers were trapped on the building's ninth floor. With the flames closing in, some chose to jump to their deaths. More than 100 years ...
39m Aug 16, 2021
39m
S1 Ep35: The Massacre at Taliesin
For years, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright had made headlines for his personal life. After all, he'd left his wife and six children for a married woman during the Victorian era, and made no apologies for the two "living in sin" in a home he built on family land in Wisconsin. Then, on a hot August day in 1914, Wright's whole world came crashing down: A murderer had attacked his so-called Love...
44m Aug 02, 2021
44m
S1 Ep34: Satanic Panic and the McMartin Preschool Case
Judy Johnson was horrified when her 3-year-old son told her he'd been abused by a teacher at his preschool. So, too, was her community. Soon, hundreds of parents throughout Manhattan Beach, California, heard horrifying tales from their children describing sexual abuse, animal torture and even murder in a case that epitomizes what came to be known as the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s. "Crimes of...
40m Jul 26, 2021
40m
S1 Ep33: The Murder of William Guldensuppe: The Headless Torso that Sparked a Media Furor
When a group of kids cooling off along New York City's East River spotted a parcel in the water, they figured a passing freighter had dropped some goods. When they opened the package, however, they discovered a human torso, its arms still attached. So began a murder mystery that helped ignite a news war and forever altered how journalists covered crime in America. "Crimes of the Centuries (htt...
40m Jul 19, 2021
40m
S1 Ep32: The Bath Massacre
Andrew Kehoe really didn't like the new property taxes being leveled to pay for his community's fancy new school. This was well known throughout his hometown of Bath Township, Michigan. What residents didn't know was that his displeasure would turn to murderous rage that culminated on May 18, 1927. To date, the horror unleashed by Kehoe that day remains the deadliest school attack in American ...
37m Jul 12, 2021
37m
S1: Roanoke: That Time 100 People Vanished for No Reason (from "Strange and Unexplained")
Hey, COTC listeners! We're taking a break for the holiday this week, but we wanted to share an episode from another Obsessed Network show with you.  From "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan," this episode tells the tale of the vanishing colony of Roanoke, who came to America in the 16th century and then mysteriously disappeared. Daisy explores all the bizarre elements of the story, but as...
33m Jul 05, 2021
33m
S1 Ep31: Doris Duke's Dark Secret
Tobacco heiress Doris Duke got upsetting news on Oct. 7, 1966. Her longtime friend and art curator, Eduardo Tirella wanted to end their work relationship. Within hours, Tirella was dead, having been hit by a car driven by Duke. Though the crash was quickly dismissed by police as an accident, Tirella's family always believed that the volatile billionaire had killed Tirella on purpose. If so, Du...
41m Jun 28, 2021
41m
S1 Ep30: Patty Hearst: Murder, Terror, and the Taking of an Heiress
When the granddaughter of one of America's best-known publishing magnates was kidnapped in 1974, the news of course grabbed headlines. But that was nothing compared to the attention the case would receive after Patricia Hearst joined forces with her abductors. The group at the heart of the kidnapping was known as the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical group of young adults considered to be t...
43m Jun 21, 2021
43m
S1 Ep29: John Arthur Pender: The Pardoned Killer?
The book The Man from the Train describes dozens of axe slayings in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many of which authors Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James believe were committed by what would be the nation's most prolific serial killer. But a 1911 double homicide near Scappoose, Oregon, doesn't fit the mold. On Sept. 3, 1911, someone entered a cabin and fatally shot Daisy Wehrman a...
37m Jun 14, 2021
37m
S1 Ep28: The Villisca Murders
The Moore house seemed awfully quiet one June morning in 1912, prompting neighbors to investigate. Inside, they discovered a horrific scene: All eight people who'd been inside -- a mother, father, their four children and two young guests -- had been brutally slain in their sleep. The case that followed would be one of the highest-profile, longest-lasting mysteries in the history of the Midwest ...
44m Jun 07, 2021
44m
S1 Ep27: The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
Charles Lindbergh became an American and worldwide hero after becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.  But five years later, his world was upended when his toddler son was stolen from his nursery.  The ensuing investigation into the kidnapping would involved a host of characters, including an amateur detective named Jafsie and a mysterious man named Cemetery Joh...
43m May 24, 2021
43m
S1 Ep26: Did Jeffrey MacDonald Kill His Family?
The sight that greeted arriving medics in February 1970 was so upsetting that at least one had to rush from the scene to vomit. Inside of Army surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald's home were three dead bodies belonging to his two daughters and pregnant wife. MacDonald, too, was injured. But who really killed the Green Beret's family? Was it a quartet of acid-dropping hippies -- or MacDonald himself? "Cr...
41m May 17, 2021
41m
S1: Introducing "Murder in Alliance: Ep. 1 Dead in the Water"
Hey, Crimes of the Centuries listeners! We're so excited to bring you the new show from the Obsessed Network, "Murder in Alliance." We've got the first episode here for you in this feed, and two more available right now wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the first three episodes and follow "Murder in Alliance" on your favorite podcast player HERE (https://lnk.to/98BXWuip) (https://lnk.t...
29m May 13, 2021
29m
S1 Ep25: Belle Gunness: Butcher of Men
When an Indiana home caught fire and burned to the ground in 1908, townspeople mourned the poor mother and two children believed trapped inside. But then someone started to dig on the property, they realized that the woman of the house had a sinister secret. Belle Gunness had been luring would-be suitors to her farm and brutally slaying them in a scheme that lasted years. "Crimes of the Centu...
38m May 10, 2021
38m
S1 Ep24: The Dark Tale of the Radium Girls
In the early 20th century, one of the best jobs for a young woman to land in America involved a new discovery: radium. The substance discovered by Marie Curie could be tweaked and turned into glow-in-the-dark paint. But as the women working with the paint started falling ill, their employers began a calculated coverup that landed them in court -- and changed laws nationwide regarding the duty ...
38m May 03, 2021
38m
S1 Ep23: Jane Britton's Mysterious Murder
Though 23-year-old Jane Britton had no enemies when she was violently killed in 1969, her case somehow had no shortage of suspects. Who killed the brilliant and feisty Harvard grad student — was it the brooding archeologist rumored to have had an affair with her, the bumbling professor who’d invited her to his apartment or the friend who would years later be suspected in another mysterious deat...
37m Apr 19, 2021
37m
S1 Ep22: H.H. Holmes and His Macabre "Murder Castle"
He was born Herman Webster Mudgett, a bright boy beloved by his teachers because of his kind demeanor and thirst for knowledge. Later, the world would know him as H.H. Holmes, a man so determined to murder that he designed a home in Chicago complete with torture chambers, trap doors and a crematorium. Holmes' tale not only shocked the world, but it forever tainted the legacy of Chicago's 1893 ...
53m Apr 12, 2021
53m
S1 Ep21: Fatty Arbuckle: Scandal in Hollywood
The roaring '20s of last century were fueled in part by a new industry: filmmaking in Hollywood. Directors were rolling in dough, as were the silver screen's first stars. But in 1921, the future of cinema would forever be altered after internationally beloved comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was charged in the death of a young starlet after attending a boozy Prohibition-era party in Arbuckle's ...
48m Apr 05, 2021
48m
S1: Introducing "Strange and Unexplained: Ep. 1 The Watcher House"
Hey, Fam! We're so excited to bring you the new show from the Obsessed Network, "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan." We've got the first episode here for you in this feed, and two more available right now wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the first three episodes and follow "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan" on your favorite podcast player HERE (https://lnk.to/ptzIRNzD) ...
34m Apr 02, 2021
34m
S1 Ep20: The Enduring Legacy of the Salem Witch Trials
When two young girls began suffering from mysterious ailments in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 17th century, townsfolk were baffled. The only explanation they could imagine was that the girls had been bewitched -- and over the next three months, no one in town would be safe from the label. The notorious trials would go down in history as a cautionary tale about group hysteria, but its impa...
44m Mar 29, 2021
44m
S1 Ep19: The Murder of Marie Smith
When a 9-year-old girl failed to return home from school in 1910 Asbury Park, N.J., a local reporter became convinced of a Black man's guilt -- putting that man's life in danger even before an arrest was made in the case. The confounding unraveling of the murder of Marie Smith would not only shock the small town and make headlines nationwide, but it would employ a new type of detective work tha...
37m Mar 15, 2021
37m
S1 Ep18: Rebecca Schaeffer: The Slaying of a Starlet
As actress Rebecca Schaeffer rushed around her apartment to ready for the biggest audition of her career, a disturbed young man was pacing the street below, armed with a gun. Schaeffer's senseless death in 1989 would not only shock the nation, but it would also be the catalyst for the country's first anti-stalking laws. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast fr...
40m Mar 08, 2021
40m
S1 Ep17: Daniel Sickles: Temporarily Insane?
In 1859, two of Washington, D.C.'s highest-profile men were in love with the same woman -- and that love triangle would lead to the broad-daylight shooting of one of them just a stone's throw from the White House. The victim had been the first-born son of Francis Scott Key, author of the lyrics to America's national anthem. And his killer would be the first in the country to argue a defense of ...
41m Mar 01, 2021
41m
S1 Ep16: Richard Speck: Born to Raise Hell
On July 14, 1966, Chicago residents awoke to horrific news: Eight young nurses had been brutally killed in their dorm-style housing overnight. The killer had lost count of his victims and left one survivor, and soon, the hunt for Illinois-born and Texas-raised felon Richard Speck was on. The case, which gave birth to the phrase "random mass murder," would "shatter our innocence," according to t...
44m Feb 22, 2021
44m
S1 Ep15: The Landmark Case of the Scottsboro Boys
In 1932, a group of white men rushed to police to report a group of Black men had roughed them up on as they sneaked a ride on a train. Authorities soon descended and soon even more heinous allegations were lodged: Two women on the train said the group of nine young men had sexually assaulted them. Outraged citizens demanded justice. The rush to try the so-called "Scottsboro Boys" in Alabama le...
37m Feb 08, 2021
37m
S1 Ep14: The Million-Dollar Kidnapping of Ginny Piper
When wealthy Ginny Piper was kidnapped at gunpoint in broad daylight inside of her secluded Minnesota home, it put the nation on edge and sent her husband on a macabre scavenger hunt to save Ginny’s life. It also became a pet case for the FBI, which was trying to improve its reputation, but many would later argue that the agency only bungled things further by focusing on the wrong suspects. The...
41m Feb 01, 2021
41m
S1 Ep13: Edward Rulloff: The Genius Psychopath
Edward Rulloff was a genius, speaking seven languages by the time he graduated high school -- no easy feat for someone from a poor farming family. But Rulloff was also arrogant, hot-headed and prone to violence. When his wife and infant daughter disappeared in 1844, Rulloff said they'd simply gone on a trip, though his in-laws were suspicious. Somehow, he managed time and again to slip through ...
37m Jan 25, 2021
37m
S1 Ep12: The Tylenol Murders: Over-the-Counter Killers
When 52-year-old Bruce Nickell suddenly dropped dead in Washington state, investigators at first thought he'd died of a heart attack. But then a second person collapsed, and police realized that the two victims had both taken the painkiller Excedrin. Suddenly, they realized they were dealing with a copycat of a case that had haunted federal investigators for nearly 15 years. In that earlier ca...
39m Jan 18, 2021
39m
S1 Ep11: Sex, Lies, and Murder: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, and Harry Thaw
It was one of the most salacious stories the country had ever heard: A famous architect had been gunned down in front of an audience of hundreds by a man who said he was defending his wife's honor. It so happened the wife was the world's first supermodel. The love triangle among architect Stanford White, model and showgirl Evelyn Nesbit and millionaire unhinged man Harry Kendell Thaw reached it...
47m Jan 11, 2021
47m
S1 Ep10: The Torture Chamber of Delphine LaLaurie
A fire broke out in a stately New Orleans mansion in 1834, leading neighbors to rush to the homeowners' aid. What they discovered inside, however, made them realize that the charming and cultured woman of the house had been hiding a horrifying secret: In an upstairs apartment, enslaved people were weighed down by chains, starved to emaciation and barely recognizable as humans. The case of Delph...
39m Jan 04, 2021
39m
S1 Ep9: Charley Ross: America's First Kidnapping for Ransom
After 4-year-old Charley Ross vanished in a carriage with two men who'd offered him candy and fireworks, police at first told his father to wait it out. Surely the men had no bad intentions. Then came the first ransom letter. And another. And another. In 1874, the Charley Ross case marked the first time in American history that a child had been stolen for money. The case terrified parents, made...
40m Dec 21, 2020
40m
S1 Ep8: Kitty Genovese: A Murder with 38 Witnesses
As a 28-year-old woman screamed for help on an otherwise quiet New York City street, neighbors roused from sleep ... and then largely did nothing. The 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese would soon represent apathy in America and spark the creation of a centralized phone number that ultimately changed how the entire nation reported emergencies. While Kitty's case will go down in history as a driving ...
38m Dec 14, 2020
38m