Historical True Crime: The Borgias
The Borgia family can be summed up with a few choice words: treachery, hedonism, scandal, and oh right, a bulk supply of murder. For those who don’t know, the Borgias were one of the most powerful families in Renaissance Italy, and they didn’t gain their social clout from playing nice. From incestu…
Historical True Crime: The Princes in the Tower, History's Ultimate Cold Case
King Richard III lives on in our cultural imagination as one of England’s most nefarious villains, particularly for the suspected murder of his two young nephews while they were confined to the infamous Tower of London in the summer of 1483. No one knew what happened for certain, even in 1675, wh…
Historical True Crime: An 18th Century Heist!
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was the eighteenth century's most notorious heist—and for good reason. It's a dramatic story of lust, theft, betrayal, and ultimately, the fall of the freaking Queen of France. The players in this con included Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, a sly con-woman nam…
Historical True Crime: The Bullet-Proof Baroness of New Orleans
The humid, cobbled streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter have their fair share of shadowy stories, but none are as notorious as that of Micaela Almonester, the beautiful Baroness de Pontalba. This Creole blueblood’s life was filled with decadent balls, palatial estates, and one infamous crime. Pl…
Historical True Crime: The Mayerling Incident
On January 30, 1889, tucked away in the Mayerling hunting lodge near Vienna, one of history’s darkest stories unfolded. That morning, servants discovered the lifeless bodies of Crown Prince Rudolf and his 17-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera. The shocking vignette threw the royal house into i…
Historical True Crime: What Happened To The Roanoke Colony?
On a misty August day in 1590, John White disembarked from a perilous voyage across the Atlantic ocean. White and his crew had come to America to check on a settlement, but as they approached the Roanoke colony, they realized that something was very wrong: the people of Roanoke had disappeared with…
Historical True Crime: The Sex Scandal That Rocked Regency England
In 1820, England talked about one thing and one thing only: The spectacular breakdown of the marriage between King George IV and his wife Caroline of Brunswick. The royal couple had never been happy, but their misery and hatred only hit its apex when George took his own wife to court and demanded a…
Historical True Crime: Who Was Jack The Ripper?
Who was history's most infamous serial killer? In this episode—the second of our two-part series on Jack the Ripper—we go full armchair detective and try to identify Victorian England's most dangerous criminal. We discuss the Ripper's psychology, overview prominent suspects, and conclude by stumpin…
Historical True Crime: Jack the Ripper's Canonical Five Victims
In 1888, Jack the Ripper haunted London's Whitechapel District. He preyed on the vulnerable, killing at least five innocent women—and then, just as suddenly as he emerged, he disappeared. In this episode—the first in our two-part series on Jack the Ripper—we're switching gears. Instead of talking…
Historical True Crime: King Tut's Curse
"Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king." These are the words that greeted Sir Howard Carter and his expedition when they entered King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. But did they listen? Of course not. And then they started dropping like flies... This week, we're …