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 ri

In October of 1900, four men accompanied a young woman named Jennie Bosschieter to a 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 die

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 bo

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

 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

With Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" due to be released at the end of July, there is a renewed interest in Charles Manson and his murderous cult. My guest, Lis Wiehl, author of "Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice In the

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

If I were to make a list of the most notorious murder cases in American history, the Sacco and Vanzetti case would certainly make my top ten. In April of 1920, two payroll guards were gunned during a robbery in Braintree, Massachusetts. Police immedi

Long before Dutch Schultz, "Lucky" Luciano or even Monk Eastman ran rackets in New York City, a man named Albert Hicks terrorized lower Manhattan. He'd made his living as a murderous pirate, and became one of the worst criminals to ever wander the notorio

My guest is George R. Dekle Sr., former prosecutor and prolific author. He discusses his book, "Six Capsules: The Gilded Age Murder of Helen Potts", and draws comparisons between the Helen Pott's husband, Carlyle Harris (who would be tried and convicted f