Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Just in time for the Halloween season! This episode explores the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, a 15th century warrior-ruler infamous for his extreme brutality and cruelty. My guest Leif Pettersen, a former travel writer with Lonely Planet, has spent considerable time in Romania, and through his writing, research and wanderings, developed a special attachment to the real life Dracula. His book on the subject is part memoir, part travelogue and part history, and called: "Backpacking with Dracula: On the Trail of Vlad "the Impaler” Dracula and the Vampire He Inspired".More abut the author here: https://leifpettersen.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin joins me to talk about his book, "Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates". He discusses the Golden Age of Piracy in 17th and 18th century America, explains why pirates were so prolific during this time, dispels some prevailing pirate myths, and tells stories about some of most infamous (like Blackbeard) and the most murderous (like Ned Low).The author's website: https://www.ericjaydolin.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May of 1980, a brazen group of four heavily armed men, in an attempt to rob the Security Pacific Bank in Norco, California, ended up responsible for one of the most violent criminal events in American history. It would be a massive shootout against an underarmed police department, and would fundamentally change how law enforcement departments across the country dealt with crime. My guest, author Peter Houlahan, summarizes the events detailed in his book, "Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History". His research includes insightful, first hand interviews from people on both sides of the shootout, and fascinating tales of the trial that followed.More about the author here: https://www.peterhoulahan.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the American Civil War there was a sharp rise of interest from Americans interested in communicating with the dead, and the Spiritualism movement grew increasingly popular. This, combined with the new technology of photography, gave rise to a scam called "spirit photography". The main perpetrator of the fraud was William H. Mumler, who convinced many that he could capture images of lost love ones alongside the living in portrait photographs. Eventually he would face a sensational trial, with even P.T. Barnum testifying against him. My guest is Peter Manseau, writer and curator of American Religious History at the Smithsonian Institution. His book is called "The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost", and he tells the this tale of deception in this latest episode of Most Notorious.The author's website: https://www.petermanseau.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October of 1900, four men accompanied a young woman named Jennie Bosschieter to a New Jersey saloon, where one of them slipped a large amount of chloral hydrate into her drink. She was then taken on a ride to a remote place, sexually assaulted, and eventually died from the overdose.My guest is Kimberly Tilley, author of "The Poisoned Glass", and she tells the disturbing story of the murder, the investigation, the trial and its aftermath.More about the author and her work can be found here: https://oldspirituals.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

My guest is Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of "Sin in the Second City", "American Rose", and "Liar, Temptress, Soldier. Spy". She discusses her new book, "The Ghosts of Eden Park", and the wild story of George Remus, the most powerful bootlegger in early Prohibition-era America. It's a roller-coaster tale - his rise, his fall, and the strange love triangle he shared with wife Imogene and Prohibition Agent Franklin Dodge, which would ultimately drive him to such rage that he would shoot her dead and face a sensational trial.The author's website: https://karenabbott.net/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

Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird", famously accompanied Truman Capote as he investigated the murder of the Clutter family; ultimately writing about the terrible events in his true crime classic, "In Cold Blood". Years later, Lee tackled her own multi-murder investigation, with the goal of writing her own true crime book.My guest is Casey Cep, author of "Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee". She not only discusses Harper Lee's involvement, but goes into detail about the Reverend Willie Maxwell, who after murdering five people in Talapoosa County, Alabama, was himself shot dead during the funeral for one of his victims. More information on Casey's work can be found here: https://www.caseycep.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

While Arthur Conan Doyle is recognized as the creator of one of the most famous characters in literary history - Sherlock Holmes- fewer people know that Doyle used his Holmesian skills of deduction to help solve actual real-life true crime cases. One in particular had to do with Oscar Slater, a Jewish immigrant gambler who was convicted for the brutal beating death of a wealthy woman named Marion Gilchrist in Glasgow, Scotland in late December of 1908.My guest, Margalit Fox, is author of the book "Conan Doyle for the Defense: How Sherlock Holmes's Creator Turned Real-Life Detective & Freed a Man Wrongly Imprisoned For Murder". She tells the story about Slater's wrongful conviction and Doyle's crusade for justice amidst a corrupt Glasgow police department. More about the author here: http://margalitfox.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cults are certainly not a new phenomenon - in fact one of the strangest ones existed in Los Angeles in the 1920s. The "Blackburn Cult", also known as the "Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven", was the brainchild of a grifter named May Otis Blackburn. She, along with her daughter Ruth, in need of money, suddenly claimed that the archangel Gabriel had visited them with orders to write books that revealed the mysteries of life, death, and a post-apocalyptic world that would be ruled by eleven Queens . My guest is Samuel Fort, author of "Cult of the Great Eleven". He discusses some of the cult's bizarre rituals and behavior, and more ominously, the mysterious deaths and disappearances it was involved in - grim events that would eventually be exposed to the country in a sensational trial.The author's website: https://www.samuelfort.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

In April of 1920, two payroll guards were gunned during a robbery in Braintree, Massachusetts. Police immediately honed in on two Italian-born anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, and charged them with murder. My guest, Susan Tejada, author of "In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case That Shook the World", dives into the case in detail. And it's fascinating - from a questionable police investigation, including confusing ballistics evidence, to a biased judge, to an ignored confession, this is a case that caused a world-wide outcry over a failed legal process, which led to the eventual execution of both men. Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices