On New Year’s Eve, 1927, Ethel Griggs and her baby daughter Alwyn returned home to Victoria after six months away in Tasmania. 

After eating supper with her husband Ethel quickly became ill, and just over 48 hours later she was pronounced dead.

At first, it was thought to be heart trouble or even sea sickness that caused her death, but when police exhumed her body just two weeks after Ethel was laid to rest, they found enough arsenic inside her stomach to kill not just Ethel, but several people.

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CREDITS

Guest: Michael Adams, host of the Forgotten Australia podcast and author of The Murder Squad. You can listen to his past episode with us about The Murder Squad here.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

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Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.