Old Blood

Old Blood

The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Join us as a historian investigates history's most fascinating cases of true crime.

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Episodes

Hell Broke Loose: The Servant Girl Killer
Apr 15 2024
Hell Broke Loose: The Servant Girl Killer
Before Jack the Ripper, there was the Servant Girl Annihilator. The man who stalked Austin, Texas, in 1885, preying upon the city’s black servant girls. When he targeted two white women in a shocking Christmas Eve attack, all hell broke loose. Who was this servant girl killer, and was he the same man that terrorized London in 1888?Sources:Galloway, J. R. The Servant Girl Murders: Austin, Texas 1885 (BookLocker, 2010) and the book’s website https://www.servantgirlmurders.com/History Detectives- HDSI- Texas Servant Girl Murders, 2014. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-hdsi-texas-servant-girl-murders/ Hollandsworth, Skip. The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer (Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2015) and “Capital Murder” Texas Monthly, July 2000. https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/capital-murder/Psencik, Katey. “The Servant Girl Annihilator: Austin’s oldest unsolved murder case.” KVUE. 7 November, 2014. https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/hidden-austin/the-servant-girl-annihilator-austins-oldest-unsolved-murder-case/269-260196137Original Sources: Burt, Dr. W. J. “Autopsy Report for Susan Hancock, 1885” 29 December 1885. Susan Hancock Inquest. 29 December, 1885.State of Texas v. James O Phillips, 1886.Newspaper Articles: The Fort Worth Daily Gazette, The New York Times, The Austin Weekly StatesmanMusic: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia ListonFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Blood Will Out: Dolly & the Bat Man Slayer
Feb 26 2024
Blood Will Out: Dolly & the Bat Man Slayer
A decade-old murder mystery unravels when a secret is discovered in a Los Angeles attic. Even in 1930, the press declared the mystery of Dolly and the Bat Man Slayer as"Los Angeles' most startling murder story."Sources:Hapsis, Emmanuel. "Meet Walburga, the Married Woman Who Hid a Secret Lover in Her Attic for a Decade." KQED. 29 June, 2016. https://www.kqed.org/pop/27643/meet-walburga-the-married-woman-who-hid-a-secret-lover-in-her-attic-for-a-decadeLardinois, Anna. "The Legend of Milwaukee's Most Infamous Love Triangle." Milwaukee Mag. 13 April, 2021. https://www.milwaukeemag.com/the-legend-of-milwaukees-most-infamous-love-triangle/Noe, Denise. "Otto Sanhuber: The Man in the Attic Case." Crime Library. https://www.crimelibrary.org/notorious_murders/classics/otto_sanhuber/1.htmlRabe, John. "The Murderous Lover Who Lived In A Silver Lake Attic. A True Story." LAist. 15 April, 2022. https://laist.com/news/la-history/hidden-history-of-la-the-murderous-lover-who-lived-in-a-silver-lake-attic Rasmussen, Cecilia. "'Bat Man' Case: a Lurid Tale of Love and Death." Los Angeles Times. 20 March, 1995. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-20-me-44878-story.htmlStartling Detective Adventures. Vol. 5, No. 26. (Fawcett Publications, Inc.: Louisville). July 1930.Los Angeles Times (Issues from 1922-1930)Music: Credits to Fesilyan Studios, Holizna, and the original by Virginia Liston.For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Lawful: The Lynching of Chipita Rodriguez
Sep 11 2023
Lawful: The Lynching of Chipita Rodriguez
In the middle of the American Civil War, a horse trader was found in a south Texas river with his head axed in. Following the discovery, the town sheriff arrested an elderly woman by the name of Chipita Rodriguez. Was justice served?Sources:Abernethy, Francis Edward. Legendary Ladies of Texas (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1994).Correa, Tom. “Was Josefa ‘Chipita’ Rodriguez a Patsy?” The American Cowboy Chronicles. September 30, 2021. http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2020/02/josefa-chipita-rodriguez-texas-bandit.htmlDavies, Dave. “‘Cult of Glory’ Reveals the Dark History of the Texas Rangers.” NPR. June 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/871929844/cult-of-glory-reveals-the-dark-history-of-the-texas-rangers Hebert, Rachel Bluntzer. The Forgotten Colony: San Patricio de Hibernia (Burnet: Eakins Press, 1981).Givens, Murphy. “A black day in San Patricio when Chipita was hanged.” Corpus Christi Caller Times. April 6, 2017. https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/murphy-givens/2017/01/17/black-day-san-patricio-when-chipita-hanged/96556038/Guthrie, Keith. The Legend of Chipita: The Only Woman Hanged in Texas (Austin: Eakin Press, 1990).Jennings, Rachel. “Celtic Women and White Guilt: Frankie Silver and Chipita Rodriguez in Folk Memory.” MELUS. Vol. 28. No. 1. (Spring, 2003). Pp. 17-37. Torres, Alfred. Jr., “The noose plagued Mexican-Americans, too.” My San Antonio. November 25, 2017. https://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/The-noose-plagued-Mexican-Americans-too-12381761.php Underwood, Marylyn. “Rodriguez, Josefa [Chipita].” Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rodriguez-josefa-chipita Wills, Matthew. “The Untold History of Lynching in the American West.” JSTOR. March 26, 2019. https://daily.jstor.org/the-untold-history-of-lynching-in-the-american-west/ 1985 Texas Legislature docs regarding Chipita here: https://thewrongcarlos.net/wp-content/sources/texas-legislature-scr-14-69th-regular-session.pdf For more on the lynching of ethnic Mexicans: https://utrgv.libguides.com/SCA/lynching (Research Guide from the University of Texas)Lynching in Texas: https://www.lynchingintexas.org/ Music: Credits to David FesilyanFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Little Demon & The Bloody Trunk II
Aug 7 2023
Little Demon & The Bloody Trunk II
The Gouffe Affair had attracted international interest by 1890, with the world wondering if Gabrielle’s defense could be true. Could someone really be hypnotized and compelled to commit murder? Sources:Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hypnotism at the Belle Epoque: The path traced by Jean-Martin Charcot and Georges Gilles de la Tourette." Le bâillement. July 15, 2009. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/criminal_hypnotism.htmlLevingston, Steven. Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris (Doubleday: New York, 2014).Lochouarn, Denis. "XV- L'Affaire Gouffé." Doctor Juris. https://web.archive.org/web/20150722220540/https://sites.google.com/site/doctojuris/Home/pages-professionnelles/etudie/huissiers-de-justice/ici/xv---laffaire-gouffPoisson, Philippe. Le meurtre  de l'huissier Gouffé. Le blog de Philippe Poisson. September 12, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20150717025115/http://philippepoisson-hotmail.com.over-blog.com/article-35987097.htmlStarr, Douglas. "Murder in 19th Century France and the Birth of Forensic Science." Gizmodo. October 14, 2010. https://gizmodo.com/murder-in-19th-century-france-and-the-birth-of-forensic-5662454Stolze, Dolly. "The Mystery of the Corpse in the Burlap Sack." Sapiens. March 25, 2016. https://www.sapiens.org/biology/alexandre-lacassagne-forensic-anthropology/Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke HoliznaFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Little Demon & The Bloody Trunk I
Jul 24 2023
Little Demon & The Bloody Trunk I
Mysteries collide in 1889 France, as a bailiff goes missing and a bloody trunk is discovered in the countryside. Can Paris’s best detectives solve the case?Sources:Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hypnotism at the Belle Epoque: The path traced by Jean-Martin Charcot and Georges Gilles de la Tourette." Le bâillement. July 15, 2009. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/criminal_hypnotism.htmlLevingston, Steven. Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris (Doubleday: New York, 2014).Lochouarn, Denis. "XV- L'Affaire Gouffé." Doctor Juris. https://web.archive.org/web/20150722220540/https://sites.google.com/site/doctojuris/Home/pages-professionnelles/etudie/huissiers-de-justice/ici/xv---laffaire-gouffPoisson, Philippe. Le meurtre  de l'huissier Gouffé. Le blog de Philippe Poisson. September 12, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20150717025115/http://philippepoisson-hotmail.com.over-blog.com/article-35987097.htmlStarr, Douglas. "Murder in 19th Century France and the Birth of Forensic Science." Gizmodo. October 14, 2010. https://gizmodo.com/murder-in-19th-century-france-and-the-birth-of-forensic-5662454Stolze, Dolly. "The Mystery of the Corpse in the Burlap Sack." Sapiens. March 25, 2016. https://www.sapiens.org/biology/alexandre-lacassagne-forensic-anthropology/Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke HoliznaFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
A Man's Crime: Alice Mitchell & Freda Ward
Jul 3 2023
A Man's Crime: Alice Mitchell & Freda Ward
In 1892, 17-year-old Freda Ward was walking to the river landing when she was attacked with a razor blade and had her throat slit. The ensuing legal battles brought national attention to Memphis, Tennessee, and challenged her society’s views on gender and love.Sources:Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).Astor, Vincent. “Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls’ young love ends tragically, creates national headlines.” Focus LGBT. February, 2018. https://focuslgbt.com/blog/alice-freda-1892-memphis-girls-young-love-ends-tragically-creates-national-headlines/Coe, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis. (Minneapolis: Zest Books, 2014).“A Very Unnatural Crime.” The Toast. September 6, 2013. https://the-toast.net/2013/09/06/crime-history-alice-mitchell/ “Girl Slays Girl: An Excerpt From ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Jezebel. October 7, 2014. https://jezebel.com/girl-slays-girl-an-excerpt-from-alice-freda-forever-1643363496“How My Book Infected My Nightmares.” VICE. October 28, 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/znw8dj/alice-in-the-asylum-1027Cortez, Ali. “A Love Gone South in ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Deep South Mag. October 3, 2014. https://deepsouthmag.com/2014/10/03/a-love-gone-south-in-alice-freda-forever/Duggan, Lisa. Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).Fowler, Russell. “Evil on the Bench: The Rise and Fall of Judge Julius J. DuBose.” Tennessee Bar Association. February 1, 2020. https://www.tba.org/?pg=Articles&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=52583“Jenny Higbee and the Memphis Higbee School.” Historic Memphis. http://www.historic-memphis.com/biographies/higbee/higbee.htmlLindquist, Lisa J. “Images of Alice: Gender, Deviancy, and a Love Murder in Memphis.” Journal of the History of Sexuality. Vol. 6. No. 1. (July, 1995) pp. 30-61.Newspapers: The Bolivar Bulletin, The San Francisco Call, The New York TimesMusic: Credits to David Fesilyan For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Foreigner: A Murder in Peking
May 22 2023
Foreigner: A Murder in Peking
In 1937, Peking police discovered a British schoolgirl at the bottom of an ancient wall with her heart torn from her chest. The investigation unraveled multiple theories that increased tension between locals and the many foreigners living in China at the dawn of World War II.Sources:Cook, Isham. “Midnight in Peking and true crime fiction.” Isham Cook. 11 January, 2020. https://ishamcook.com/2020/01/11/midnight-in-peking-and-true-crime-fiction/Daugelait, Tautvile. “Author Graeme Shepard Disputes Paul French’s Famed Peking Murder Book.” The Beijinger. 12 November, 2018. https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2018/11/08/its-great-story-he-wrong-graeme-shepard-opposes-infamous-peking-murder-conclusionsFrench, Paul. Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China. (New York: Penguin Books, 2011).Jenne, Jeremiah. “Who Killed Pamela Werner?” The World of Chinese. 7 April, 2019. https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2019/04/who-killed-pamela-werner/Sheppard, Graeme. A Death in Peking: Who Killed Pamela Werner. (Earnshaw Books, 2018).“A Death in Peking: Who Really Killed Pamela Werner.” Blog. https://www.pamelawernermurderpeking.com/blog“Who Really Killed Pamela Werner? Re-examining Old Beijing’s Most Infamous Murder.” The China Project. 1 November, 2018. https://thechinaproject.com/2018/11/01/who-really-killed-pamela-werner-a-death-in-peking/Spence, Jonathan D. “Who Killed Pamela Werner in Peking?” ChinaFile. 21 March, 2013. https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/who-killed-pamela-peking Perlez, Jane. “A Mystery Endures in Beijing’s Old Legation Quarter.” The New York Times. 2 May, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/travel/a-mystery-endures-in-beijings-old-legation-quarter.htmlMusic: Fesilyanstudios.comFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Death Dealing: Ned Doheny, Hugh Plunkett & LA Noire
May 1 2023
Death Dealing: Ned Doheny, Hugh Plunkett & LA Noire
In 1929, the son of oil magnate Edward Doheny was found dead beside his secretary in an apparent murder-suicide. The news exploded onto the papers for three days before the district attorney canceled the inquest and closed the case. When detectives decided there had been foul play, they were silenced, leaving everyone to wonder what truly went on that night at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.Sources:Columbia, David Patrick. “The Continuing Mystery of The Greystone Mansion Murders.” New York Social Diary. April 12, 2022. https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/the-continuing-mystery-of-the-greystone-mansion-murders/Davis, Margaret Leslie. The Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Berkeley, University of California Press: 1998).“If These Walls Could Talk…” Los Angeles Public Library. July 30, 2013. https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/if-these-walls-could-talkLockwood, Charles and Persic, Peter V. “Greystone Historical Report.” August 30, 1984. https://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/11/519277.pdfMarshall, Norman S. “Californians and the Military: The Forgotten Bagman of Teapot Dome: Edward ‘Ned’ Doheny Lawrence Jr.” Cal Guard Military Museums. https://www.militarymuseum.org/Doheny.htmlMeares, Hadley. “We Shall Never Know: Murder, Money and the Enduring Mystery of Greystone Mansion.” KCET. July 25, 2014. https://www.kcet.org/history-society/we-shall-never-know-murder-money-and-the-enduring-mystery-of-greystone-mansionRasmussen, Cecilia. “D.A. Fitts Was Good Match For Scandalous 30s.” Los Angeles Times. September 19, 1999. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-19-me-12084-story.htmlRayner, Richard. A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption and L.A.’s Scandalous Coming of Age (New York: Anchor Books, 2010).Skene, Gordon. “1930s Los Angeles – Buron Fitts: L.A.’s Little Corruption Problem And Clifford Clinton’s War On City Hall.” Past Daily. August 23, 2017. https://pastdaily.com/2017/08/23/1930s-los-angeles-clifford-clinton/Starr, Kevin. Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). Stein, Jean. West of Eden: An American Place (New York: Random House, 2016).White, Leslie T. Me, Detective. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936.) Ch. 18. Welton, Benjamin. “Vintage Noir: The Tragedy at Greystone.” Crime Magazine. May 16, 2013. http://www.crimemagazine.com/vintage-noir-tragedy-greystoneVan Landingham, Andrea. Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-ups From Tinseltown (Guilford: Lyons Press, 2022).Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke HoliznaFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
Bloodstone: The Corpse in the Cylinder
Apr 17 2023
Bloodstone: The Corpse in the Cylinder
The Blitz in Liverpool, England, unearthed a long-buried cylinder. When a child discovered a corpse inside, it ignited a century-old mystery.Sources:“The Blitz.” The History Place: World War II in Europe. 1998. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/about-blitz.htm“The Body in the Cylinder: How a Discovery During World War Two Revealed an Unsolved Victorian Era Mystery.” Creative History: Little Known Stories from the Past. January 10, 2021. https://creativehistorystories.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-body-in-cylinder-how-discovery.html“Knock, Knock, Ginger: The History of the Ding-Dong-Ditch Prank.” Professional Moron. April 18, 2022. https://professionalmoron.com/2022/04/18/history-of-knock-knock-ginger/“Liverpool and the Blitz.” National Museums of Liverpool. https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/museum-of-liverpool/blitz/liverpool-and-blitz#section--you-may-also-like“Liverpool May Blitz 1941.” Old Mersey Times. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/blitz1941.htmlThe London Gazette for the Year 1885. Vol II. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1885). P. 4250. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_London_Gazette/vyVKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=thomas+cregeen+williams&pg=PA4250&printsec=frontcoverPye, Ken. Liverpool Murders and Misdemeanours. (United Kingdom: Amberley Publishing, 2020.)  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Liverpool_Murders_and_Misdemeanours/i-bRDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0Seyd, Richard. Record of failures and liquidations in the financial, international, wholesale and manufacturing branches of commerce… (London: Seyd and Co., 1885). P. 445. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Record_of_failures_and_liquidations_in_t/_ZQNAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=thomas%20cregeen%20williams“Skeleton in Cylinder.” Old Mersey Times. 2016. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/skeletoncylinder.htmlSlemen, Thomas. Strange But True: Mysterious and Bizarre People. (United States, Barnes & Noble, 1999.) https://www.google.com/books/edition/Strange_But_True/uOXjAX0vzU0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=cregeenWhittington-Egan, Richard. Liverpool Colonnade. (London: Philip, Son & Nephew). 1955. https://archive.org/details/liverpoolcolonna0000rich/page/n7/mode/2up?q=thomas+cregeen+williams...For a complete list see oldbloodpodcast.comMusic: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com