Episodes

In December 1934, a young missionary couple, John and Betty Stam, were beheaded by Communist soldiers in Anhui Province along with a Chinese Christian brother named Chang Shushing. Listen to their story here. Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Music: Sherry White Sources: By Life or By Death: The Life and Legacy of John and Betty Stam By Andrew Montonera newspapers.com findagrave.com Christianfocus.com https://www.christianfocus.com/blog/2014/12/08/triumph-through-tragedy-the-martyrdom Wheaton Col...

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 traveler would pass by. But many of those travelers began to disappear after stopping at the Bender's place. What searchers found on the property, dubbed "Hell's Half-Acre" by newspapers, was nothing they could have imagined. And history doesn't tell us why a whole family would ki...

Reverend George Washington Carawan was charged and found guilty of the murder of a school teacher named Clement H. Lassiter . After learning the jury had found him guilty and that he would be hanged for his crime, Reverend Carawan pulled a gun and shot the prosecutor and then himself. Male Narrator- Curtis Hildreth Music- Isaiah Hildreth Sources newspapers.com murderpedia.com findagrave.com NCpedia.com murderbygaslight.com goosecreekisland1blogspot.com. Send us a text Support the show hardtim...

The seaside town of Brighton, England had a string of poisonings in the late 1870's. The victims became severely sick after eating chocolate cream candies from a local sweet shop owned by J. G. Maynard. Mr. Maynard rid his shop of the chocolate inventory, but townsfolk continued getting sick and one young boy died after eating a piece of the offending candy. Investigators were stumped until the town doctor reluctantly came forward with information that helped shed light on the po...

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 was believed she had been kidnapped but no ransom demands were ever made. Approximately six months from the time she went missing, on May 30, 1910, her dismembered body was discovered in the sub-cellar of St. John’s church. Joseph Wendling, a Frenchman, who had been the janit...

Before there were restraining orders and women's shelters galore, domestic violence victims often suffered for years in silence. This is the story of one woman and her final desperate attempt to save herself when she realized there was nowhere else to turn. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: https://www.newspapers.com/image/208805495/?terms=hughes%20francine&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/209277272/?terms=hughes%20francine&match=1 ...

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/wiki/Hans_Schmidt_(priest)https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-dreadful-crimes-of-the-only-priest-ever-executed-on-the-electric-chair-2975072643d3 Send us a text Support the s...

On Mother's Day 1985, a young mother and her two little girls were found dead in their home near Ft. Bragg, NC. The youngest of her daughters was left alive, alone, crying, and dehydrated in her crib waiting for a rescue. The murders bore a striking resemblance to the 1970 killings at Ft. Bragg of the MacDonald family. Investigators had to figure out if this was a copycat crime or a totally unrelated case. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: Whisnant,&...

Martha McKay was found murdered on her family property in Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas. Her mother was found murdered on the same property twenty-four years earlier. . Travis Lewis was Martha's killer--the same person convicted in the murder of Martha's mother and cousin when he was just fifteen years old. This case is proof that sometimes lightening does strike twice. Music Furry Lewis Public Domain Copywrite free acoustic Delta Blues Instrumental newspapers.com findagrave.com podcast -Southern F...

In early 1970 Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald is awakened by the screams of his wife and daughters being attacked. He claims a group of drugged-up hippies were the intruders, but authorities quickly begin to question that claim. This conclusion to the MacDonald family murders delves into the alternative theories put forth by the defense and ends with where the convicted murderer is today. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/convi...

At the height of the hippie culture and "Satanic Panic" in the early 1970s, a gruesome murder is committed at Fort Bragg, NC. A pregnant mother and her two small daughters are repeatedly stabbed to death. Her husband, Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, is also injured but survives the attack. He is able to describe the four assailants who had killed his family; drugged-out hippies chanting, "Acid is groovy. Kill the pigs." In the coming days, the tale becomes even harder to believe and au...

Belle Gunness also known as Hell's Princess was a pig farmer in the early 1900's. She posted help wanted and lonely hearts ads in newspapers--luring men to their deaths with promises of love and wealth. Music By Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter wikipedia biography.com legendsofamerica.com allthatsintresting.com https://americanliterature.com/author/charles...

On March 5, 1873, two women were found brutally axed to death on the secluded Smuttynose Island just off the coast of Maine. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator Curtis Hildreth Sources: Mystery on the Isles of Shoals: Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873 by J Dennis Robinson newspapers.com findagrave.com Fresh Hell Podcast fosters.com wikipedia.com newengland.com https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/geo-187-024000-bbxm-isles-of-shoals-final.pdfhttp...

Accident? Suicide? Or Murder? The question of "Z" Smith Reynolds' death is still not answered to this day more than ninety years later. The wealthy heir of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco fortune was shot on his sleeping porch after hosting his friend's 21st birthday party at his estate. The initial ruling was suicide. However, ballistic evidence cast suspicion on that theory, and two people were charged with his murder. The inquest sparked more questions than it answered. Intro and Outro Music: Cou...

On March 1, 1922, Tennessee sent four men ( under the age of twenty) to the electric chair to pay with their lives for the life they took. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com The Appalachian Storyteller wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Motor_Car knoxnews.com https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/08/11/gallows-gurney-six-infamous-east-tennessee-executions-maurice-mays-whitecaps-bluebills-billy-irick/958465002/ Send us a text S...

Georgia Tann was a social worker whose crimes spanned three decades from the 1920s to 1950. What appeared to be benevolence on her part was actually greed and downright evil that affected many families during those years. She led a secret life and was beyond scrutiny for most of those years. Sadly she was never brought to justice for her horrible deeds. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: https://www.americanadoptions.com/adoption/history-of-adoption https:...

In 1914, Lowe Daniels lived in the Uwharrie forest. He made his living making and selling whiskey. One day he came home from a trip and out of nowhere, shot his wife, his wife's seventeen year old sister, his seventeen year old sister and a sixteen year old neighbor boy. After he'd finished his killing spree, Lowe took his banjo off the wall, sat by the fire, picked his banjo and sang until the sheriff came to arrest him. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Sources: findagrave.com newspapers.com Ricky All...

In 1966 a father in Georgia died suddenly from an apparent heart attack. He was just 39 years old. Just seven months later his 13-year-old son became sick suddenly and passed away within a short time. Mysterious deaths continued until people became suspicious of the true cause of so many deaths in one family. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janie_Lou_Gibbs https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60588446/janie-lou-gibbs https:...

A fire broke out around midnight on Christmas Eve in 1945 at the Sodder house in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Five of the Sodder family's ten children didn't make it outside with the rest of their family. George Sodder, their father tried desperately to save them but it was to no avail. At first everyone believed the children died in the fire. However, no skeletal remains were ever found. After several new pieces of evidence came to light and some extremely odd circumstances surrounding the nigh...

During a snowstorm in early 1972, a Boone, NC family is shockingly murdered in their own home. At first, it appears to be a robbery gone bad, but upon further inspection, that theory does not seem to add up. It was a crime that went unsolved for fifty years. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Episode Sponsor: The Table - Asheboro, NC Sources: Pickens, Cathy -True Crime Stories of Western North Carolina. The History Press, Charleston, SC. 2022 https://www.newspaper...

Lowell Lee Andrews was a bright university student, and beloved son of a Kansas farmer. On Thanksgiving day in 1958, he would shock his community by murdering his family in order to get his inheritance. Sources: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote murderpedia.com newspapers.com findagrave.com wikipedia Podcast- Fresh Hell Podcast- Once Apon a Crime https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/nov/28/crime_all_time/ https://hazelsdiary.wordpress.com/2017/01/03/lowell-lee-andrews/ https://www.ranker.com/list/lo...

In the Spring of 1927, Reverend Tom 'Thunderbolt' Pardue traveled to the tobacco growing town of Reidsville, North Carolina to hold a revival in the big McCollum tobacco Warehouse. One night after the service, he was met by a beautiful young lady whose heart had been pricked by his message on the subject of confession. She had a confession to make. She had committed murder. She had murdered her own father. The reverend was conflicted. Was he to keep t...

In 1981, Hollywood darling Natalie Wood invited friends to spend the after-Thanksgiving weekend with her and her husband Robert Wagner on their yacht Splendor. Most invitees declined due to bad weather but current co-star Christopher Walken joined them. The weekend was booze-filled leading to arguments among the three. Tragedy struck when Natalie disappeared from the boat and the next morning her body was found face down in the water. Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Narrator: Curtis Hild...

In 1892, in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, a wealthy older couple was axed to death in their own home in broad daylight. Almost immediately their thirty-two-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden, is suspected of the brutal murders. The tales surrounding this event are varied, and conspiracy theories abound. The whole gruesome crime is memorialized in books, TV, movies, songs, poems, and now podcasts. Introduction Narration: Lily Hildreth and Isrianna Delatorre Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah ...