Historical True Crime Episodes
July 16, 2025
MINI Episode - A Supernatural Turn in the Welch Family Case
In this special mini-episode, we revisit 102. Murder on Route 66: The Welch Family Tragedy with a surprising update. The link to the original episode is in the show notes below. One of the individuals directly connected to th...
July 8, 2025
105. North Carolina's First Serial Killer: The Chilling Confession of Asbury Respus
In 1931, a little girl named Vera Leonard vanished while waiting for the school bus in Guilford County, NC. Hours later, her body was found in the ashes of her burned-down home. The man arrested—“Will Moore”—turned out to be ...
June 10, 2025
103. Moonshine and Murder in the Smoky Mountains: The Perry’s Camp Murders of 1949
In 1949, deep in the Smoky Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee, a savage double murder shattered the stillness of a quiet Appalachian community. Charlie Perry—a former Knoxville bootlegger turned tourist camp owner—and his ...
May 28, 2025
102. Murder On Route 66: The Welch Family Tragedy
There is an UPDATE on this story, which we recorded as a bonus/MINI episode. It is linked below in the show notes.
In June 1961, JD and Utha Welch packed up their car, their four young sons, and headed west from Oklahoma to visit family in California.
It was supposed to be a simple road trip …
May 13, 2025
101. Boy in the Walls: The Daniel LaPlante Horror Story
Show Notes: In 1986, Tina and Karen Bowen were just teenage girls when their mother passed away from cancer. Not long after, strange things started happening in their home. Knocking from inside the walls. Furniture moved. Objects disappeared. Messages scrawled in red across the bedroom walls: 💬 “I’…
April 30, 2025
100. The Pied Piper of Tucson: Charles Schmid's Deadly Reign Over 1960s Arizona
In this chilling episode of Hard Times and True Crimes , we dive deep into the twisted tale of Charles Schmid, the manipulative and charismatic serial killer who terrorized the young women of Tucson, Arizona, during the 1960s...
April 15, 2025
99. A Deadly Obsession: The Murder Of Olga Duncan
📍 Episode Summary: In 1958, 30-year-old nurse Olga Duncan vanished from her Santa Barbara apartment. She was newly married, seven months pregnant, and full of hope for the future. But what no one could’ve imagined was that the person behind her disappearance wasn’t a stranger… it was someone much c…
April 2, 2025
98. The Doctor's Wife: A Searcy, Arkansas Murder Story
In 1974, the quiet town of Searcy, Arkansas, was shaken by the shocking murder of Fern Rodgers, the wife of local physician Dr. Porter Rodgers. What seemed like a tragic crime soon unraveled as more information came to light ...
Feb. 13, 2025
91.Love Lost: The Valentine’s Day Murders of Jesse McBane & Patricia Mann in Durham, North Carolina
Episode Summary: On Valentine’s Day 1971, a young couple Jesse McBane and Patricia Mann vanished after a romantic night in Durham, North Carolina. Days later, their bound and strangled bodies were discovered deep in the woods. Their deaths were no accident—this was a meticulously staged murder. Ove…
Dec. 18, 2024
85. The Ashland, Kentucky Murders of 1881 (Pt.2)
On Christmas Eve in 1881, the bodies of three teenagers were found in a burning house. The brutal way in which they were killed would shock the country. Listen to the conclusion of the story on this episode. Music By Riley Hi...
Dec. 10, 2024
84. The Ashland Kentucky Murders of 1881 (Pt. 1)
On Christmas Eve in 1881, the bodies of three teenagers were found in a burning house in Ashland, Kentucky. The brutal way that they died would shock not only the community, but the entire nation. Music by Isaiah and Riley H...
Nov. 26, 2024
82. Thanksgiving- Eve Murders of the Germond Family
On Thanksgiving Eve in 1930 , a dairy farming family of four were brutally murdered. Their deaths shocked the nation. Ninety-five years later, the murders are still unsolved. Listen to the episode to see if you think you kn...
Nov. 6, 2024
79. Undark: The Story of The Radium Girls
With the discovery of radium by the Curies in 1898, great strides were made in the scientific field. Along with the possibilities were risks not yet known. One of the inventions - luminous paint- made painting watch dials big...
Oct. 30, 2024
78. The Real Exorcist: The Terrifying Story of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler
In 1973 a movie opened in theaters that scared the nation - The Exorcist. But you may not be aware that it was based on true events that took place in 1949. Billy Graham urged audiences not to see it due to its depiction of e...
Oct. 9, 2024
76. Carnage in Carthage: North Carolina's Deadliest Mass Shooting
A rocky marriage, a controlling husband, an estranged wife, and alcohol addiction; a destructive combination that led down a deadly path and ultimately ended in tragedy for several families. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro an...
Oct. 2, 2024
75. A Murder Farm in Quiet Dell, West Virginia
In August 1931, police were investigating the disappearances of Asta Eicher and her three children. They found love letters, which led them to a man named Harry Powers in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. Nespresso Vertuo Amazon Lin...
Aug. 14, 2024
70. The Donner Party Tragedy
A group of families headed west to California in the spring of 1846 during the Westward Expansion movement. They were well provisioned for the journey that was expected to take them 4-6 months. But one delay after another alo...
June 19, 2024
64. The Icebox Murders: Fred and Edwina Rogers
Sometimes a simple "welfare check" for someone's safety turns out to be more than investigators bargained for. For the Houston Police Department in 1965, this was the case when a man called in concerned about his elderly aunt and uncle. What they found when they got inside was a nauseating scene. N…
June 5, 2024
62. Lobster Boy - Grady Stiles, Jr.
Since the 1840s the Stiles family had passed down a rare condition called Ectrodactyly that makes the hands look like lobster claws. Grady Stiles turned his family's condition into a lucrative business performing in the trav...
May 29, 2024
61. The Bitter Blood Murders Pt. 2
On June 3, 1985, police cautiously pursued a Chevy Blazer with four passengers. A slow chase had persisted for several miles-- from Greensboro into Summerfield, North Carolina. Suddenly, the Blazer stopped and a bomb was de...
May 21, 2024
60. The Bitter Blood Murders Pt.1
In the years between 1984 and 1985, three intertwined families experienced the murders of close family members. The murders spanned from Louisville, Kentucky to Winston Salem and Greensboro, NC. Susie Newsome Lynch and Fritz...
April 24, 2024
57: The Bloody Benders: Homicidal Homesteaders
As Westward expansion began in the US after the Civil War, homesteaders staked land claims across the plains. One family set up a crude store and Inn along the trail, taking advantage of the location where many a weary travel...
April 2, 2024
54. The Disappearance and Murder of Alma Kellner
Alma Kellner born in 1901, was the daughter of wealthy brewers in Louisville, Kentucky.On December 8, 1909, Alma disappeared on her way to attend mass at St. John's Roman Catholic Church, not far from her home. At first it wa...
March 19, 2024
52. Father Hans Schmidt: A Killer Priest
Today's episode is about the life and crimes of Father Hans Schmidt. He was executed in 1916 for murder. Schmidt is the only priest ever to be executed in the United States. Music- Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator- Curtis Hildreth Sources newspapers.com murderpedia wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wi…