In 1937, twenty-year-old dancer Patricia Douglas accused an MGM salesman of raping her at a company convention attended by hundreds of studio employees and guests. When a grand jury declined to indict, she refused to back down, taking on one of Hollywood's most powerful studios in a legal battle that would last for years. In this episode, we examine the assault, the investigation, the court cases, and the woman who spent decades fighting to have her story heard.

Source Materials

Stenn, David. Girl 27 (Documentary Film). Red Letter Films, 2007.

Stenn, David. “It Happened One Night... at MGM.” Vanity Fair, April 2003.

Stenn, David. “The Systematic Crushing of a #MeToo Pioneer.” The New York Times, January 5, 2018.

Abcarian, Robin. “A Hollywood Role She Never Asked For.” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2007.

Galloway, Stephen. “How a Hollywood Studio Got Away With Rape in 1937.” The Hollywood Reporter, November 13, 2017.

Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. Henry Holt & Company, 1988.

Contemporary newspaper coverage from June 1937, including The Independent (California) and other contemporary Los Angeles-area newspapers reporting on the investigation and grand jury proceedings.

In 1900, fifteen-year-old Eddie Cudahy Jr., the son of one of Omaha's wealthiest businessmen, was kidnapped and held for a record-breaking ransom. The crime sparked a nationwide manhunt, a five-year search for suspect Pat Crowe, and one of the most controversial trials of the era. In this episode, we examine the kidnapping, the evidence against Crowe, and why a jury ultimately found him notguilty despite widespread belief in his involvement.

Source Materials

Garneth Oldenkamp Peterson, The Kidnapping of Ed Cudahy: How Pat Crowe Got Away with the Crime

Albert S. Ritchie, Address to the Jury by Albert S. Ritchie of Omaha, Nebraska, in the Pat Crowe Kidnapping Case (1906)

The Omaha Daily Bee (1900–1906coverage of the Cudahy kidnapping and Pat Crowe trial)

The Omaha World-Herald(1900–1906 coverage of the kidnapping, investigation, and trial)

The New York Times, “'Pat'Crowe Acquitted; Was Accused of Kidnapping Son of Edward A. Cudahy” (February 17, 1906)

The New York Times, “Says He Is Pat Crowe; Man, Apparently Demented, in Custody of Washington Police” (August 16, 1913)

The New York Times, “PatCrowe, Once Noted Outlaw, Beggar Now; Sentence Suspended, Purse Made Up in Court” (December 30, 1925)

The Herald-Democrat (December 25, 1900)

Library of Congress, “The Eye That Never Sleeps: Pinkerton's National Detective Agency Records” (2023)

Pinkerton National Detective Agency Records, Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Jeff Vasishta, “Andrew Hilleman's World Chase Me Down,” Interview Magazine

In 1901, fourteen-year-old Willie Nickell was shot and killed near his family’s ranch in southeastern Wyoming. Suspicion eventually settled on Tom Horn, former Apache War scout, Pinkerton detective, and one of the most feared men connected to the Wyoming range wars. But more than a century later, historians still debate whether the state truly proved he committed the murder.

Source Materials

Ball, Larry D. The United States Marshals of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846–1912. University of New Mexico Press, 1978.

Carlson, Chip. Blood on the Moon: The Life and Legend of Tom Horn. High Plains Press, 2001.

Davis, John W. The Trial of Tom Horn. University of Wyoming Press, 1960.

Horn, Tom. Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter. 1904.

Krakel, Dean. The Saga of Tom Horn: The Story of a Cattleman’s War. University of Nebraska Press, 1954.

Siringo, Charles A. A Cowboy Detective. 1912.

“The Killing of Willie Nickell.” The Lamar Register, August 12, 1903.

Additional contemporary newspaper coverage from Wyoming and Colorado newspapers, 1901–1903.

Robert Stroud became one of the most famous prisoners in American history as the “Birdman of Alcatraz” but the real story was far more complicated. This week, we look at the life of Robert Stroud, the violence that shaped his prison years, the mythology built around him, and the reality behind one of the most enduring legends in true crime history.

Source Materials

Babyak, Jolene. Bird Man: The Many Faces of Robert Stroud.

Bruce, J. Campbell. Escape from Alcatraz.

Gaddis, Thomas E. Birdman of Alcatraz.

Gregory, George H. Alcatraz Screw: My Years as a Guard in America’s Most Notorious Prison.

Quillen, Jim. Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years 1942–1952.

Stroud, Robert. Looking Outward: A Voice from the Grave.

Alaska Historical Society — “Robert Stroud: The Birdman of Alcatraz”

Encyclopaedia Britannica — “Robert Stroud”

In the summer of 1483, two boys disappeared inside the Tower of London. Edward V and his younger brother Richard were last seen in the months after their uncle, Richard III, took the throne. In this episode, we examine the Wars of theRoses, the political crisis surrounding the princes, and the centuries of suspicion and debate that followed their disappearance.

SourceMaterials

Mancini, Dominic. The Usurpation of Richard III. Translated by C. A. J. Armstrong.

More, Sir Thomas. The History of King Richard the Third.
Pollard, A. J. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1991.
Weir, Alison. The Princes in the Tower. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992.
Vergil, Polydore. Anglica Historia.
Commines, Philippe de. Memoirs.
Thornton, Tim. “More on a Murder: The Deaths of the Princes in the Tower, and Historiographical Implications for the Regimes of Henry VII and Henry VIII.” History.
Historic Royal Palaces. “The Princes in the Tower.”
The National Archives. “Extraordinary New Clue About the Princes in the Tower Found at The National Archives.” 2 December 2024

Louis Le Prince created some of the earliest motion pictures in the 1880s, years before Edison or the Lumière brothers. In 1890, just as he was preparing to present his work publicly, he boarded a train in France and disappeared. He was neverseen again.

Source MaterialsPaul Fischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies

Nat Segnit, “Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’s Magazine (April 2022)

“100 Years Ago, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September 16, 1990

Christopher Rawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures

Stephen Herbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema

National Science and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le Prince

Leeds City Council / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on Roundhay Garden Scene and Leeds Bridge footage

PaulFischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession,Murder, and the Movies

Nat Segnit,“Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’sMagazine (April 2022)

“100 YearsAgo, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September16, 1990

ChristopherRawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of MovingPictures

StephenHerbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema

NationalScience and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le Prince

Leeds CityCouncil / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on RoundhayGarden Scene and Leeds Bridge footage

A routine Post Office investigation in 1889 led to the discovery of a male brothel on Cleveland Street, involving telegraph boys and high-profile clients linked to the royal household. As the case unfolded, key figures escaped prosecution—raising questions about power and accountability.

Source Materials

H. Montgomery Hyde, The Cleveland Street Scandal

H. Montgomery Hyde, The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in Britain

Katie Hindmarch-Watson, “Male Prostitution and the London Telegraph Boys,”

Theo Aronson, Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld

British Newspaper Archive, “Unlock the Story of the Cleveland Street Scandal” https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2023/08/01/unlock-the-story-of-the-cleveland-street-scandal/

Rictor Norton, “The Cleveland Street Scandal (1889)”https://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1889clev.htm

Contemporary newspaper reports from The Times (1889–1890)

Contemporary newspaper reports from The North London Press (1889–1890)

Anna Marie Hahn was a German immigrant living in Cincinnati in the 1930s. She cooked for people, spent time with them, and became part of their daily lives. And over time, the men she grew close to began to die.

Source Material

Franklin, Diana Britt. The Good-bye Door: The Incredible True Story of America’s First Female Serial Killer to Die in the Electric Chair. Kent State University Press, 2006.

Hunt, Amber. “Queen City Crime: How serial killer Anna Hahn rocked Cincinnati, made Ohio history.” The Cincinnati Enquirer, February 6, 2024.

Contemporary newspaper coverage, including:

The Cincinnati Enquirer (1937–1938)

The Cincinnati Post (1937)

The Pittsburgh Press (execution coverage, 1938)

Telfer, Tori. Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. HarperCollins, 2017.

Vronsky, Peter. Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters. Berkley Books, 2007.

Queen, Chelsea. “Anna Marie Hahn: The Deadly ‘Arsenic Widow.’” Medium, 2024