Dark La Crosse Stories
Dark La Crosse Stories
Playlist by Dark La Crosse StoriesPodcast looks at the seedier side of La Crosse, Wis., history. This podcast is a partnership between the La Crosse Public Library and the La Crosse Tribune. The stories, which are all at least 50 ye…Follow the podcast:
58 clip(s) in playlist
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 58: The Woman in Brown
In December 1907, in the Olmsted County Courthouse in Rochester, a beautiful, young and popular socialite woman was being held facing six counts of forgery and three counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. Her plea? Not guilty. Decide for yourself whether Aimee Sickle Lloyd is guilty …
16:24
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 57: The Invasion
What happens when archival records leave out crucial histories of those who persecuted by the writers of history? In this episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, listen to the account of the persecution and forced movement of Indigenous people -- the Ho-Chunk peoples -- as told by a citizen of the Ho-…
21:08
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 56: The Omaha Kidnapper
A notorious criminal ends up in the La Crosse County jail in 1913 after a drunken night out. The man was known for kidnapping high profile individuals and holding them for ransom, long before kidnapping was a common crime.
14:12
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 55: Homefront Hero
Did the end of World War II usher in a crime wave in the United States? In La Crosse County, men and women defended their property and livelihoods against "homegrown Hitlers" in the latest installment of the Dark La Crosse series. What post-war societal problems contributed to the turn to crime? …
10:55
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 54: $2700 City Attorney
When one of Minnesota's oldest weekly papers takes a shift towards the sensational, a community becomes divided, with reputations at stake. Some lives are changed forever.
15:32
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 53: Drowned and Missing
The echoes of what sounded like a bombardment along the Mississippi River south of La Crosse in the fall of 1902 was a desperate attempt to retrieve the bodies of a well-known La Crosse business owner and his grandson.
11:08
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 52: Jimmie's Big 38
A second chance at love seemed promising for Mrs. Hope McEldowney of West Salem, a widow of 44 years of age in 1913. McEldowney met a clairvoyant on one of her jaunts to Chicago who operated a bookstore on upscale Michigan Avenue with occult rooms in the back. She became a regular client, and the t…
14:40
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 51: The Greenfield Burning
A hardworking brother, born the 11th son of a farming family, noted for his good character and straightforward life by family and neighbors alike, a man whose final act appeared to be reading the Bible in the kitchen by the fire. Or a desperate, demented man, prone to drinking and violent acts, his…
18:29
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 50: A Celebrated Recluse II
A lot of rumors swirled around the "celebrated recluse" of La Crosse, Mary Ann Parker — but was there any truth that she murdered her husband?
18:05
Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 49: A Celebrated Recluse I
Mary Ann Parker was a strange woman who had been holed up in her house ever since her husband died. Were the rumors true about her?
13:02