Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Pennsylvania’s Eastern State Penitentiary has a rich and fascinating history. Built in the 1820s as a place to reform criminals, it saw an increase in violence over the decades before finally closing in 1971 as a working prison. It now operates as a history museum. Among the more notorious inmates was Willie Sutton, who was involved in the most famous escape in the prison's history, and Al Capone. My guest is historian Paul Kahan, author of "Eastern State Penitentiary: A History". He talks about the prison's history and explains the current museum's more nuanced approach towards the topic of incarceration. More information about him and his work can be found here: https://www.paulkahan.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Bigley - better known as Cassie Chadwick - might be the most successful confidence artist in American history that you've never heard of. She swindled her way across the eastern United States during the height of the Gilded Age, committing fraud at every opportunity. In her greatest con, she posed as the illegitimate daughter of robber baron and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, bilking banks for millions of dollars in the process. My guest is Thomas Crowl, and in his book "Queen of the Con: From a Spiritualist to the Carnegie Imposter" he tells the fascinating story of the sensational rise and fall of the incorrigible Cassie Chadwick. More information about the book can be found here: https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2021/queen-of-the-con/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In July of 1908, the bludgeoned body of a young woman named Hazel Drew was found floating in a pond in Sand Lake, New York. In the following weeks investigators would be flummoxed by the mystery of not only who Hazel's killer was, but why she had decided to travel to the rural location fashionably dressed and alone.This is the real-life crime that Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost stated was the inspiration for the television murder of Laura Palmer. My guests Mark T. Givens and David Bushman used that as a starting off point in their quest to learn more about this sensational unsolved case. Their book is called "Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks".More about the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Teals-Pond-Mystery-Inspired-ebook/dp/B08Z7HLLYM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1641357877&sr=8-1Mark's Deer Meadow Twin Peaks podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deer-meadow-radio-a-twin-peaks-podcast/id1076219034Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In April of 1830, Joseph White, an aged, wealthy and despised resident of Salem, Massachusetts was discovered murdered in his bedroom by servants. The city - still suffering from the stigma of the Salem Witch trials 140 years earlier - brought in famed orator and lawyer Daniel Webster to prosecute the men who were suspected of conspiring to kill White. The case was so famous in its day that Nathanial Hawthorne, a contemporary of the accused murderers, would use details from it to pen his literary masterpiece: "The Scarlet Letter". My guest is Edward Renehen Jr, and his book is called "Deliberate Evil: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, and the 1830 Murder of a Salem Slave Trader."Mr. Renehen's website: https://edwardrenehan.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Holidays everyone! In late November of 1912, a schooner named the Rouse Simmons, heavily laden with Christmas trees, made its way across Lake Michigan with Chicago as its final destination. Once there, Captain Herman Schuenemann and his family planned, as they had in years past, to decorate the ship with festive lights and sell their trees to eager Chicagoans.Unfortunately the ship never arrived. It met with a violent winter storm and sunk to the bottom of the lake, along with its captain and crew. My guests are Joan Forsberg and Cris Kohl, maritime historians who specialize in Great Lakes shipwrecks. They share details from their book, "The Christmas Tree Ship", which has recently been released in audiobook format.More information about the authors' work here: https://www.seawolfcommunications.com/booksThe Christmas Tree Ship audiobook: https://www.amazon.com/The-Christmas-Tree-Ship/dp/B08QDRCDXC/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1639683708&sr=1-1Charles Huddleston's Narrator Page: https://narrator.page/n/charles_huddlestonBecome a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November of 1971 a man who would come to be known as D.B. Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305, ultimately parachuting out of the Boeing 727 in spectacular fashion, along with $200,000 in ransom money, presumably somewhere in Washington State. Who he was and what happened to him after he jumped is one of the most enduring true crime mysteries in American history. My guests are Darren Schaefer, creator and host of "The Cooper Vortex" podcast, and George McKeon, author of "The Mystery of D.B. Cooper: A True Crime Adult Coloring Book". They tell the story of the hijacking, discuss some of the tantalizing clues left behind, and ruminate about possible suspects. Subscribe to The Cooper Vortex on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cooper-vortex/id1439712498 and Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YRiVfMZX7hfVDSezq1aNoGeorge McKeon's book can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-D-B-Cooper-Crime-Coloring/dp/1737712709Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On November 2nd, 1892 a ten-year-old boy named Anton Woode led a hunter to a secluded area of woods a few miles north of Denver, Colorado and shot him dead. Local papers would nickname him "The Boy Murderer". My guest is Dick Kreck, author of "Anton Woode: Boy Murderer". His book can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Anton-Woode-Murderer-Dick-Kreck/dp/1555915787Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky lived a fascinating and turbulent life. He served a sentence in a Siberian prison camp and suffered from depression and a gambling addiction that kept him destitute for years. But through these challenges he wrote some of the greatest fiction of the 19th century, including his masterpiece "Crime and Punishment". Dostoevsky drew inspiration for the novel from a series of murders committed in Paris by Pierre Lacenaire, a failed poet and aspiring master criminal in 1834. My guest, New York Times bestselling author Kevin Birmingham, is the author of "The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece". He talks about the tortured, brilliant soul who penned the literary classic, despite the difficult odds against him. Kevin Birmingham's website: http://www.kevinbirmingham.net/His publisher's author page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/238375/kevin-birmingham/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January of 1923, a 20-year-old dancer named Fritzie Mann left home to meet a mysterious man for what she told her mother was a house party. When she was discovered dead on a remote beach a few miles north of San Diego, police were puzzled by the clues. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? The fact that she was pregnant deepened the mystery even further. Soon two men - a Hollywood actor and a doctor - became the primary suspects in the case, and one would eventually be put on trial for murder. My guest is James Stewart, author of "Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage: A True Story of Murder in San Diego's Jazz Age". He shares details about strange death of Fritzie Mann, considered by some to be San Diego's very own Black Dahlia, and offers intriguing theories on what might really have happened to her. More information can be found at the author's website here: https://www.jamesstewartauthor.com/ and at his publisher's author page: https://wildbluepress.com/mystery-at-the-blue-sea-cottage-james-stewart-true-crime/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most powerful secret societies in 1880s Chicago was the mysterious Clan na Gael, run by Irish-American kingpin Alexander Sullivan. When Dr. Patrick Cronin questioned Sullivan's management of the organization, embrace of the controversial "dynamite policy", and disappearance of society funds, he was targeted and eventually murdered.My guest is Gillian O'Brien, author of "Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago". She talks about Clan na Gael's once powerful influence, the deadly rivalry between Sullivan and Cronin, and the unintended consequences of their hatred towards each other - the crippling of a late 19th century movement towards Irish independence.Gillian O'Brien's blog: https://gillianmobrien.wordpress.com/category/blood-runs-green/More about the book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo19966410.htmlBecome a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices