In July of 1990, the headless, handless body of a young woman named Beverly McGowan was found in a canal near St. Lucie, Florida. As they began their investigation, detectives had no way of knowing that they were embarking on one of the strangest cases of their careers—the twisting, turning story of a consummate con woman, killer, and master of disguise…a criminal so skilled at deception that she would manage to stay one step ahead of the agencies hunting her for more than a decade, even after b...
Oct 13, 2023•44 min
It’s October, folks. The season of mystery. So this week, to kick off our favorite month of the year, we’ve picked two of the most iconic unsolved cases in American history: both cases where the basic fabric of everyday life was threatened. Where the things we take for granted as safe—over the counter medicine and air travel—suddenly couldn’t be trusted. Both of these cases rocked the country to its core. And both of them remain unsolved to this day. Case 1: The Tylenol Poisonings. Case 2: D.B. ...
Oct 06, 2023•45 min
We’ve had a pretty heavy summer on TCC, haven’t we? Nazis and Norwegian black metal murders, and those last two cases were gnarly. So we thought maybe this week, you’d appreciate something a little lighter—something just for fun. So we decided to talk about hoaxes. Sometimes hoaxes are hilarious, like the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pranked five of his friends by sending them all an anonymous letter saying “We are discovered. Flee at once,” and then watched in amazement as one of ‘em up and left...
Sep 29, 2023•49 min
When we left you at the end of Part 1, former Mormon golden boy Taylor Helzer had decided on two disciples who would aid him in his weird scheme to bring about a planet-wide spiritual awakening through a network of self-help groups fueled by sex and drugs, a plan he called Transform America. These disciples were his quiet younger brother Justin, and Dawn Godman, a vulnerable young woman convinced that Taylor was divinely inspired. But Transform America needed a lot of money to get off the ground...
Sep 22, 2023•56 min
For fifteen years you could call a private number in Manhattan and anonymously apologize for anything. It was called The Apology Line. This is the story of the phone line and the man at the other end who became consumed by his own creation. He was known as “Mr. Apology.” As thousands of callers flooded the line, confessing to everything from shoplifting to adultery, drug dealing, to murder, Mr. Apology realized he couldn’t just listen. He had to do something, even if it meant risking everything....
Sep 18, 2023•7 min
Being part of a society means that for the most part you follow its rules, often without thinking about it at all. And those rules, those strictures of what is right and wrong, good or bad, are frequently dumb and sometimes awful—human societies are not utopias, after all, they’re messy and loud and full of argument. But some shared consensus on the boundaries of behavior is necessary if people are going to live together in something approximating peace. So what happens when a group of people gi...
Sep 15, 2023•47 min
When we left you at the end of part 1, married couple BJ and Erika Sifrit had decided to take a break from their demanding schedule of selling scrapbook supplies and burgling local businesses and drive down to Ocean City, Maryland for a little vacation…join us now for part 2 of this chilling true story. Sources: Cruel Death by M. William Phelps A&E's "American Justice," episode "Thrill Kill Couple" Investigation Discovery's "People Magazine Investigates" Cape Cod Times: https://www.capecodti...
Sep 08, 2023•45 min
In May of 2002, a couple on vacation went missing from the beach town of Ocean City Maryland…and what began as a missing persons investigation soon morphed into one of the most bizarre, most disturbing double murder cases in the area’s history. The killers’ names weren’t a mystery for long. They were a young married couple with their whole lives ahead of them. The puzzle was their motivation to brutally kill two total strangers, while on a beach vacation. Before they met and married, these two s...
Sep 01, 2023•46 min
In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge’s nephew says of his uncle, “His wealth is of no use to him. He don’t do any good with it. He don’t make himself comfortable with it.” Those of us who aren’t staggeringly wealthy might have happy daydreams about how much fun we’d have if we won the lottery, but a lot of the people who devote their lives to making as much cash as possible seem incapable of finding any joy in their success. For them, it’s not about taking care of their loved ones, p...
Aug 25, 2023•40 min
When Mike Williams vanishes on a hunting trip, the authorities suspect he was eaten by alligators but the true predators who took Mike may lurk much closer to home. The mystery of Mike’s disappearance might have faded from memory, if it wasn’t for one woman’s tireless crusade. From Wondery, comes a new season of Over My Dead Body; a story about an obsessive love affair, a scandalous secret and a mother’s battle for the truth.Follow Over My Dead Body: Gone Hunting on Amazon Music or wherever you ...
Aug 21, 2023•6 min
On the song “Freezing Moon,” lead singer of Mayhem howls,“Diabolic shapes float by/Out from the dark/I remember it was here I died”. It’s an oddly prophetic line, considering two members of the band would be dead by 1994, the year the album was finally released. Mayhem was central to the Norwegian black metal scene and most of the members were a part of the Black Circle. The Black Circle was a loosely organized group of black metal musicians who set about burning down churches and committing pet...
Aug 18, 2023•48 min
Robert Johnson was a Blues singer in the 1930s who was said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his talent. He died, inexplicably, at the age of 27, right at the peak of his fame. No one has been able to confirm the cause of his death, so the rumor of his Luciferian trade lives on. Musicians are often accused of worshiping the devil by conspiracy theorists and moral purists alike. Whether it’s true, is usually left up to the listener. Today, though, we’ll be discussing a group of ...
Aug 11, 2023•42 min
Punk rock legend Patti Smith once sang, “You gotta lose control before you take control.” It’s a romantic idea—especially because so many of us spend our lives chasing an illusion of control, when really, life’s kind of a crapshoot. But you gotta find a happy medium somewhere. If you’re too loosey goosey, your life is gonna be a mess. And if you’re wound too tight, well—then the first thing that threatens that perfect order might snap some crucial thread and send you spinning into the void. This...
Aug 04, 2023•44 min
In The Godfather , Mario Puzo wrote “The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.” Family loyalty can be like armor in our most troubled times—when we’re at our weakest, our loved ones can lend us their strength. But loyalty can be a double-edged sword sometimes, making us choose family over reason—over sanity—over right. Join us for a Shakespearean tragedy of a story about a dirty little secret that led to murder, and a choice that took two proud fa...
Jul 28, 2023•51 min
G.K. Chesterton wrote, "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." It speaks to an important struggle--how to hold onto your humanity when you're caught up in terrible violence. And it's a struggle that only gets more complicated when both friend and foe are not behind or in front of you, but all around, and it gets hard to tell one from the other. This is "The Good Fight," the story of three young women in the Dutch resistance...
Jul 21, 2023•40 min
Leon Benson spent 24 years in an Indiana state prison for the 1998 murder of a young man named Kasey Schoen. His conviction hinged on the testimony of two eyewitnesses – but what if their memories turned out to be wrong? And what if the people who knew what really happened had never been allowed to speak? Suspect Season 3: Five Shots in the Dark is the story of two victims: one murdered, one sentenced to life. Follow host Matt Shaer and attorney Lara Bazelon as they investigate how the justice s...
Jul 17, 2023•6 min
You know that old saying—I think it was Ben Franklin again—that guests, like fish, begin to stank after three days? I feel like that’s being pretty generous, actually, I’ve thought about buying one of those party banners that says PLEASE LEAVE BY 9 PM. And that’s if the guests are INVITED. What happens when they’re not? Imagine having your home taken over by people who just decide they live there now, and they’re not going anywhere. That this is THEIR home now, no matter what they have to do to ...
Jul 14, 2023•38 min
David Bowie once described aging as “an extraordinary process by which you become the person you have always been.” We want to think of this as a nice sentiment, right? Like, aww, I’m gonna come into my full flower as the best possible version of myself. But what if the “person you’ve always been” is a nightmare? What if the monster’s just been biding its time? Join us for two stories of killer old ladies: Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay, a pair of serial killers who preyed on the most vulner...
Jul 07, 2023•45 min
Benjamin Franklin once warned us that whatever is begun in anger will end in shame. Probably true for most of us, but the thing is, Benji—some people have no shame. You cross them, it’s gonna be their mission to make you regret it, whatever the consequences. Join us for two bizarre stories of ladies who decided they were NOT gonna let it go. They were gonna set the world on fire. Case 1: Frenemies, the Story of Courtenay Savage--a former cop turned lingerie model who fell out with her bestie-sla...
Jun 30, 2023•47 min
The Bible says, “Be sure: Your sin will find you out.” It’s certainly not a universal truth, as the long, long list of unsolved crimes out there proves. But even for those criminals who get away with it, surely there’s a little voice in their head wondering, is today the day they catch me? Is it tomorrow? And sometimes, that little voice is right. Join us for a story of lust, betrayal, and toxic family loyalty: The murders of Joseph Tarricone and Vicky Notaro. Sources: “Don’t Look Behind You” by...
Jun 23, 2023•46 min
There’s a proverb that says, “Love thy neighbor, but don’t pull down your hedge.” Basically, be kind to the people around you, but don’t get too involved in their lives because you never know who they really are. I think we all have crazy neighbor stories and we’re probably someone else’s crazy neighbor. I think maybe that proverb wasn’t talking about torrid love affairs and murder plots conducted between two scheming neighbors, but we are. Today, join us for a story about lust, betrayal, and mu...
Jun 16, 2023•38 min
In 1992, the area around Toronto, Canada was terrorized by a strange series of crimes. A burglar nicknamed the House Hermit was breaking into empty summer cottages whose owners were away, stealing what he could and leaving bizarre, creepy calling cards behind. Then, a woman went missing from Toronto—her car was found soon after, run into a ditch and covered in blood. Next, two bodies, bound, beaten and stuffed into the trunk of their own car. Then a series of violent abductions. Who was responsi...
Jun 09, 2023•38 min
According to the newspaper The Guardian , there are at least 125 million twins and triplets living today. Twins come into the world together, and they can have an almost supernatural bond. Most of the time it’s a beautiful thing, but it can go sideways, too. Take, for example, the Eriksson twins, Sabina and Ursula, who in the spring of 2008, shocked the United Kingdom by dashing out into traffic, and fighting off anybody who tried to stop them. Ursula was badly hurt and needed a hospital stay, b...
Jun 02, 2023•48 min
Technology is amazing. It’s allowed humans to instantaneously transmit information over thousands of miles. Sometimes it’s a phone call to a sick relative in a different country, sometimes it’s a funny cat video sent to your friend at 4 am when you’re supposed to be asleep, and sometimes it connects two true crime nerds who live in different areas of the country who decide that they want to deglorify the monsters that live amongst us. It’s truly a marvel of human ingenuity and for most of us, it...
May 26, 2023•38 min
Security expert Gavin de Becker wrote, “If we’re looking for some specific, expected danger, we’re less likely to see the unexpected danger.” It’s a trap we can easily fall into, especially the anxious ones among us—trying to plan and protect ourselves from every possible harm, only to find that the real danger comes when we least expect it, and from the last place we’d think to look. Join us for a classic whodunnit, a story of secrets, lies, and obsession--all leading to an explosive end. Sourc...
May 19, 2023•36 min
It’s all a lighthearted nightmare on the MORBID podcast. Hosted by Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley, Morbid is a full dose of true crime with a splash of comedy. Join us all month long as we celebrate 5 years of MORBID with a special anniversary series, a festive edition of listener tales, and more surprises to come. Listen to Morbid wherever you get your podcasts: https://wondery.com/links/morbid-a-true-crime-podcast/?ol=am Hey Prime Members you can listen to Morbid early and ad-free on Amazon Mu...
May 17, 2023•7 min
The great poet and painter William Blake wrote that, “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” And I think that makes sense to all of us. Few things cut so deep as betrayal from someone you trust and care for—the shock of it makes the treachery all the more painful, and makes you question whether your supposed friend ever gave a damn about you in the first place. And you’ll rarely see a betrayal as deep as the one in this week’s story -- a tale of friendship, redemption, reinv...
May 12, 2023•44 min
In March of 1996, a cat named Scarlett made national news when she ran into a burning building five separate times to rescue her kittens. She sustained severe burns to her paws, she was blinded by the heat and smoke, and her whiskers had burned, but that didn’t stop her. Again and again, she faced danger to save her babies and after her task was completed, she touched each kitten with her nose, counting them all, making sure they were all safe. Scarlett is probably the platonic ideal of motherho...
May 05, 2023•44 min
In his play Medea, Euripides wrote the story of a mother scorned. Her husband, Jason left her for another woman and in her fury, Medea murders their children in revenge. As she prepared to poison her sons, she was asked if she was sure, and she said, “Yes, for this is the best way to wound my husband.” A mother, so overtaken with jealousy and hatred that she took the lives of the children that she claimed to love so dearly. Today’s story is about a mother like Medea. Someone who was so overcome ...
Apr 28, 2023•39 min
In case you haven’t noticed already, we tend to seek out the kind of stories that make your brain hurt. The kind of stuff you wouldn’t believe was real if you didn’t have our solemn word for it. This will be our fourth volume so far of “Stranger than Fiction” stories, cases that are probably gonna wreck your head for the rest of the week, and for this one we’ve chosen a theme: Romance. Love is kind of a big deal for us humans. You can’t turn on the TV for more than five minutes without a love st...
Apr 21, 2023•50 min
