Serial Killers

Unfulfilled by bestiality, a young Peter Kürten turned to murder — and discovered his body’s reaction to the sight of blood. As his dark desires festered, he embraced sadism in all its forms. And in 1929, a gruesome killing spree earned him a chilling moniker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When British heiresses Dora and Claire Williamson reached out to Linda Hazzard, she might have thought draining their bank accounts would be easy enough. But she didn't count on the sisters’ resilience, or the might of one formidable governess... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1900s, Linda Hazzard marketed herself as a doctor, and claimed that she could cure any ailment with her special starvation regimens. Except, instead of curing her patients, she was killing them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After spending years in and out of prison, Charles “The Serpent” Sobhraj was determined to make something of himself. To do that, he needed money — only now, he knew better than to leave behind any witnesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing up in Vietnam, India and France in the 1940s and ‘50s, Charles Sobhraj never truly fit in anywhere — not even with his family. When they turned their backs on him for good, he became a con man smuggling cars, escaping debts, stealing from tourists… and breaking out of prisons around the world.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the years since the Satanic Panic, it's become obvious that the crimes people were accused of never really happened. But while none of the nightmarish stories of ritual abuse in Satan’s name were true, it doesn’t mean there weren’t real victims…  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Emboldened by power- and money-hungry conmen, Evangelical doomsdayers set the stage for an epic showdown of biblical proportions. The fight for the souls of every last American was beginning, they claimed, and Satan was coming to drag us all to hell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Adolfo Costanzo and the Narcosatanists to the gruesome Chicago Rippers, these horrific groups showed that fears of murderous devil-worshipping cults weren't entirely unfounded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1980s, “Satanic Panic” was a mass hysteria that consumed communities and ruined lives—all over things that never even happened. In this new five-part series, we’re examining the origins of the panic, tracing back through the decades to see how the fear of Satan’s influence in society swept across North America.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1980s, “Satanic Panic” was a mass hysteria that consumed communities and ruined lives—all over things that never even happened. In this new five-part series, we’re examining the origins of the panic, tracing back through the decades to see how the fear of Satan’s influence in society swept across North America.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices