Serial Killers

Over the ages, arsenic has had many lives — beauty fad, household product, medical prescription… and weapon of choice wielded by killers everywhere from Alabama to ancient Rome. Brine your turkey, knead your dough, and listen to our Thanksgiving Special on the regime-changing, assassination-aiding King of Poisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With his caked-on makeup and pathological lies, Charles “Smitty” Schmid cut a distinctive figure among Tucson’s youth. The 22-year-old wanted to draw misfit teens to himself like moths to a flame, before holding a cultish sway over them. Schmid was a corrupting force. And by the summer of 1965, he had killed at least three young women, burying their bodies in the Arizona desert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre debuted in 1974, audiences had a visceral experience so frightening, many believed what they witnessed was real. Its main villain, Leatherface, slaughtered innocent youths and wore their skin for pleasure. This depiction of violence seemed surreal, but echoed the real-life crimes of a man who inspired some of Hollywood’s most infamous characters: Ed Gein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Premiering in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs was anything but your typical horror movie. While it made the name Hannibal Lecter famous, at its core, the film was a psychological thriller that tracked the moves of a murderer at large: Buffalo Bill. But while Bill’s methods may have seemed too gruesome to be true, the inspiration was a combination of three of the most heinous killers of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1996, a new horror movie with an innovative twist would reinvigorate the slasher genre. But behind the fictional Ghostface was an inspiration steeped in reality. A man in a makeshift mask who stalked and tormented teenage girls during a three-day murderous rampage. A man known as the Gainesville Ripper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrei’s murders don’t go unnoticed. A pattern emerges: young victims, bodies mutilated, left in isolated patches of wilderness. But even with police on high alert, the serial killer eludes capture until 1990 — when his twelve-year reign of terror finally ends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the USSR, an engineer hid a secret he was deeply ashamed of — his inability to have sex with women he dated. His frustration made him withdraw from others, until he developed a proclivity for sexual violence that, at last, could satisfy him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1950s, a Los Angeles native started a crime spree that would stretch into the ‘80s. John Floyd Thomas Jr. spent those decades terrorizing his hometown, targeting women aged 50 and older who lived alone, and occasionally even going to jail for his assaults. But it’s not until the early aughts, and the creation of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, that that LAPD is able to pin him with multiple rapes and murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Or maybe the deadly concoctions came straight from the Johnson & Johnson facility itself. In the absence of clear answers, only theories remain… and rumors that someone is still out there, replacing Halloween treats with fatal tricks. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Roger Arnold wasn’t behind the murders, who was? Police turn their focus to a new suspect: a disgruntled accountant named James Lewis. But the more police dig into Lewis’s life, the more questions they have. The road ahead is paved with extortion, false identities, and revenge. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices