Two women, from opposite sides of the Atlantic, talk about murder, mystery and the macabre. This is your award winning, international true crime podcast, hosted by Annie and Johanna.
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Heinz Pohlmann has been acquitted, but Rosemarie Nitribitt’s murder is still unsolved. So in our final part, we look at Rosemarie’s famous notebook, the very real wealthy and powerful men in her life, the rumors of blackmail, missing files, a supposed murder tape, and theories ranging from jealous clients to industrial espionage. It' s been almost seventy years since the murder, and there are…
When Rosemarie Nitribitt's body was discovered in her Frankfurt apartment, the investigation turned into one of the biggest murder mysteries in postwar Germany. In Part 2, we look at what investigators actually knew, what they only thought they knew, why Heinz Pohlmann became their prime suspect, and why this case remains to be a mix of fact, rumor, and conspiracy theories that continues to…
Long before Rosemarie Nitribitt became front-page news, she was just a little girl growing up in poverty. In Part 1, we take a look at her childhood through orphanages, foster homes, and institutions, and follow her to Frankfurt, where she would soon become one of the most infamous women in 1950s Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is reincarnation real, and is it possible that people remember a life that ended more than 3,000 years ago? From the time she was a small child, Dorothy Eady insisted that ancient Egypt was her home. As an adult, she left England behind, settled in Egypt, and became known as Omm Sety, earning the respect of archaeologists for her meticulous work while claiming that she had once been an Egyptian…
In the second part we follow Mary through her years on North Brother Island, her legal fight against the city, her release, and the decision that would ultimately send her back into quarantine for the rest of her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mary Mallon was simply an Irish immigrant making a living as a cook for some of New York's wealthiest families. But wherever she worked, typhoid fever seemed to follow. In the first part of our two-part series, we head back to New York at the turn of the twentieth century, where crowded streets, groundbreaking discoveries in public health, and one baffling outbreak after another form the backdrop…
In the final part of our series on Starr Faithfull, the investigation begins, and this is where the mystery begins! Why were parts of her clothing missing? Why did two autopsies reach different conclusions? What was in Starr's diary? And what role, if any, did the powerful former mayor Andrew J. Peters play after years of abusing her? In this final episode, we walk through the investigation, the…
Starr Faithfull finally tells her family the secret she’s been carrying for nearly a decade: she has been sexually abused by a powerful and trusted relative since childhood. In Part 2, we talk about what happened after that revelation, as her family struggles to help her in an era when trauma was poorly understood and the modern ideas of treatment were more than questionable. This is Part 2 of our…
In 1931, the body of 25-year-old Starr Faithfull washed ashore on a Long Island beach. Newspapers and the public speculated whether her death was murder, suicide, or an accident. But before we can answer that question, we need to go back to the beginning: to old Boston money, political power, and the man Starr knew as "Uncle Andrew." Content note: This episode contains discussions of child sexual…
We're wrapping up our summer break series, and we're leaving murder, mystery, and historical villains behind and head into the strange world of UFO sightings, and things that definitely shouldn't have been lurking outside people's homes after dark. Or before dark. Pretty much at any time! First, we travel to Scotland in 1979 for the Dechmont Woods Incident, where a respected groundskeeper named…
While Johanna recovers from surgery and Annie does her best to prevent her from immediately returning to work, we're bringing you another trip into the Fresh Hell archives. This week features condensed versions of two of our most heartbreaking cases, both were originally released as two-part episodes. First, we travel to Ashland, Kentucky in 1881, where a horrific crime on Christmas Eve left an…
This week, we’re doing something a little different. We teamed up with Horrifying History for a feed swap, which means we’re sharing one of their episodes with you. And you know is: this one is absolute Victorian nightmare fuel. In this episode, host Brenda Ganske explores the horrifying world of Britain’s baby farming industry, a system that preyed on vulnerable women and led to neglect, abuse,…
The Hitler Diaries are finally exposed as fake, and the fallout is spectacular! In the fourth and final part of our series, we talk about the collapse of the biggest media scandal in postwar Germany. What did the BKA find? What was the so called “Folternacht” inside Stern headquarters? And what happened to the Carin II.? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stern is now spending millions, historians are cautiously warning them, and Konrad Kujau is sitting at home frantically producing more and more volumes while simultaneously convincing everyone that this all makes perfect sense. What could possibly go wrong? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gerd Heidemann follows up on the supposed Hitler diaries and finally meets the man behind them. Money starts changing hands in ways that should probably raise a few questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we start a story that begins with a boat, takes a detour through a small village in East Germany, and ends up with one of the biggest media scandals in German history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1853, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria goes for one of his regular walks in Vienna. It’s something he does often enough that people know where to find him, and on that day, someone does. A young Hungarian tailor named János Libényi steps forward and tries to stab the emperor in the neck. The attack doesn’t go as planned, the emperor survives, and within seconds, two men step in and stop it.…
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This week we’re in January of 1919, in Boston’s North End. People are still recovering from the First World War and the 1918 flu, the area is packed with people, noise, and a molasses tank that never should have been there in the first place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When we first started Fresh Hell, people kept asking us to cover the Boston Molasses Flood. So…here we are. And because Annie researched this one, we’re not taking the direct route. Part 1 is less about the disaster itself and more about everything that led up to it, because as always...none of this happened in a vacuum. We’re in Boston’s North End, one of the oldest and most crowded neighborhoods…
After everything he survived as a child at Spiegelgrund, Friedrich ends up back in prison in the 1970s, where he is sent for a psychiatric evaluation. It's hard to believe what would happen next! This is the part of the story where things don’t resolve neatly, and where the idea of justice becomes complicated, delayed, and in many ways incomplete. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
In Part 3 of Friedrich Zawrel’s story, we follow him through detention, sentencing, and a harrowing journey along the Danube as the Third Reich falls apart in its final weeks. After multiple escape attempts, Friedrich is arrested again...this time landing in the Nazi youth justice system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Part 2 of Friedrich Zawrel’s story, we meet the doctors of Spiegelgrund. Dr. Ernst Illing and Dr. Heinrich Gross were psychiatrists working inside Vienna’s infamous children’s institution during the Nazi period. Under the banner of “racial hygiene,” they helped run a system that targeted children considered disabled, difficult, or socially undesirable. In this episode we look at their…
Friedrich Zawrel grew up in Vienna during the Third Reich. As a child, he was labeled “difficult” and “unmanageable” by the authorities. That was enough to place him inside the Nazi welfare and psychiatric system...a system that decided which children were worth keeping alive. In this episode, we look at Friedrich’s early life and how he ended up at Spiegelgrund, the children’s ward in Vienna…
Vienna, 1940. On the hills above the city stood a children’s psychiatric institution called Am Spiegelgrund. Officially it was a place for treatment, observation, and care. In reality though, it became part of the Nazi system that classified vulnerable children as “unfit,” subjected them to medical abuse, and in hundreds of cases sent them to their deaths. This episode focuses on the historical…
In 1660, a respected estate steward left the English market town of Chipping Campden to collect rent and never came home. His bloodstained belongings were soon found by the roadside, and suspicion quickly fell on his servant, John Perry. What followed was a chain of confessions, accusations, arrests, and a trial that ended in execution. There was only one problem....Nearly two years later, the…
Why do we casually reference pillories, hunger, or medieval tally sticks while talking about our week? In this episode, we’re digging into the origins of everyday German and English sayings, specifically the ones we use without thinking about what we’re actually saying. From “spill the beans” to „die Katze im Sack kaufen“... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Part 3, we follow Friedrich after Küstrin. This episode looks at what Friedrich became once he held absolute power: the military strategist, the administrator, the enlightened absolutist who read philosophy while sending tens of thousands to their deaths. We talk about Sanssouci as a deliberate retreat, his devotion to animals over people, his refusal of intimacy, and the contradictions that…
After being arrested and imprisoned at Küstrin, Friedrich is stripped of rank, freedom, and is forced into isolation, surveillance, and humiliation, while the fate of his closest friend, Hans Hermann von Katte, hangs over everything. Friedrich knows exactly what’s at stake. He’s seen how this ends for other crown princes. Only a few years earlier, Peter the Great had imprisoned, tortured, and…
Friedrich II of Prussia is remembered as “the Great.”But before he became the most famous Prussian king, he tried to run! In this first part of a two-episode series, we go back to the beginning: to Friedrich II von Preußen’s childhood under the rule of his father, the so-called Soldier King. We talk about Prussia before it was shaped into a European super power, a court ruled by discipline and…
In 1920s Vienna, a woman calling herself Baroness Cadvé ran what appeared to be a private language school for children. Behind the polite advertisements and the respectable address in the city center was something much darker. This episode tells the story of Edith Kadivec, the woman at the center of the 1924 Vienna "Sadist Trial,” in which she was accused of abusing children for the sexual…
If you want to watch Henry's wonderful documentary, you can find the English version here: https://www.henryhauck.de/en-us and the German version here: https://www.henryhauck.de/de In this episode we speak with filmmaker Henry Hauck, a cousin of one of the "Missing Children of Pirmasens", a series of missing person cases from the 1960s, that have never been resolved and continue to haunt the town…
Today we’re sharing an episode from our friends at Our True Crime Podcast, covering the deeply troubling murder of Michelle McNeill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We’re back to bridge the space between the holidays and the return of brand-new episodes. This volume revisits the 1904 murder of Lucie Berlin in a rapidly modernizing Berlin, the still-unsolved killing of Peggy Andrews in Columbus, Ohio, and the controversial 1902 murder of Bertha Schippan in rural South Australia. If you want the full versions, with expanded background, investigative detail, and…
While we take a holiday break, we’re bringing you Best Of, Vol. 3: a condensed revisit to three cases from the Fresh Hell archives. This episode features the disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers on Eilean Mòr, the chilling crimes of Viennese con man and serial killer Hugo Schenk, and the Victorian-era murder of Anna Evans Skeeters in Bermuda. If you want the full versions, with all the…
On December 24th 1996, in Minneapolis, a series of escalating disturbances unfolded across the city, leading to an explosion during the city’s Christmas celebrations. What began as isolated incidents at shopping centers and local businesses quickly revealed themselves to be connected, linked by the same individuals. Jingle Bells Calm by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons…
In November 1995, 16-year-old Ruth Wilson vanished after leaving her home in Surrey. She didn't go to school as planned though. Instead she ordered some flowers, and took a taxi to a quiet rural lane near Box Hill. Then...she disappeared without a trace. Thirty years later, her family and investigators are still searching for answers. Was Ruth planning to run away? Did she meet someone that day?…
In the final part of our Dr. Crippen series, we’re heading into the Old Bailey for one of the most sensational trials in Edwardian history. We’ll walk you through the courtroom, the personalities, the evidence, the theatrics, the “Saul Goodman–before-Saul-Goodman” defense strategy, and the moment the jury returned in just twenty-seven minutes. Part 4 brings the story to its end… or at least as…
In Part 3 of our Crippen series, we follow the case across the Atlantic and back again. After the dramatic arrest aboard the Montrose, Inspector Dew brings Crippen and Ethel to Québec, where the crowds are already waiting and the extradition machinery kicks into motion. We cover their guarded return voyage, the secrecy, and the surprisingly calm behavior of a man accused of murder. Once back in…
In Part 2 of our Crippen series, Scotland Yard finally agrees something isn’t right with Dr Crippen. Inspector Dew talks to Crippen, listens politely, and then decides he needs another look inside the house on Hilldrop Crescent. What he finds there ends any hope that Belle simply packed up and left. At the same time, Crippen and Ethel are already gone, traveling under new names, dressed as father…
London, 1910: Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen and his wife, music-hall performer Belle Elmore, seem to have built the perfect Edwardian life... a tidy house in Holloway, polite manners, and a place in London’s social circle. But behind the facade of 39 Hilldrop Crescent, the marriage is falling apart. In this first part of the story, we look at who the Crippens really were: Hawley’s small-town…
They’ve delivered love letters and war messages, carried microfilm across battlefields, worn tiny backpacks full of XTC, and been accused of international espionage! Yet somehow, pigeons have become one of the most hated animals in modern cities. In this episode we take a closer look at the humble pigeon...a bird that’s been by our side for thousands of years. You’ll hear about decorated pigeon…
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On Halloween night, 1973, nine-year-old Lisa Ann French left her home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, dressed as a hobo and planning to trick-or-treat with a friend. She never made it back. What followed would not only shatter their community, but also forever change Halloween for American families, and spark one of the most shocking parole controversies in Wisconsin history. In this episode, Annie and…
This week, Johanna takes us back to 18th-century Austria, when terrified villagers were convinced the dead were refusing to stay buried...and the Habsburg Empire responded the only way it knew how: with paperwork! Hear all about Petar Blagojević and Arnold Paole, and how it lead to Maria Theresia’s no-nonsense vampire ban. This is the true story of Europe’s first documented vampire epidemic. We’ll…
For our 300th episode, we’re boarding one of the most famous ships in the world: the RMS Queen Mary. Once the epitome of 1930s luxury and wartime resilience, she now sits permanently moored in Long Beach, California… and she’s said to be home to over 150ghosts. We talk about the tragic story of Door 13 and the splendor of the first-class swimming pool, as well as the anger and rage in the infamous…
This week on Fresh Hell, we’re taking you to the heart of spooky fuckery month with a deep dive into witch lore and trials in Austria and Germany. You know Salem: twenty people, one tragic year! But compared to what happened in central Europe, Salem was just a footnote. We’ll explore the folklore that fed the fear: Walpurgisnacht on the Brocken, Frau Perchta and her terrifying entourage, witches…
Crikey! This week we’re taking you to meet crocodiles. The largest living reptiles on Earth, creatures that inspire both awe and terror. We’ll talk about the late, great Steve Irwin, whose passion and humor showed millions of people why crocodiles deserve our respect. We’ll also tell you the truth about the legend of the Ramree Island “crocodile massacre,” and explain the strange biological truth…
Cardinal de Rohan believes he’s secretly helping Marie Antoinette purchase the world’s most extravagant necklace, while Jeanne de la Motte and her accomplices quietly dismantle it and sell the diamonds across Europe. We’ll tell you all about the scheme, the dramatic arrest of Rohan at Versailles during the Feast of the Assumption, and the sensational public trial before the Parlement of Paris.…
This week we’re heading to Versailles for one of the most scandalous cons in French history. In Part 1, you'll hear all about the glittering worlds of Versailles and Schönbrunn, the childhood and marriage of Marie Antoinette, and her already fragile reputation as “Madame Déficit.” We’ll meet the main characters in this elaborate scheme: Cardinal de Rohan, desperate for the queen’s forgiveness;…
