Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast
Blue Ewe Media
Blue Ewe Media
Serial killers. Gangsters. Gunslingers. Victorian-era murderers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Each week, the Most Notorious podcast features true-life tales of crime, criminals, tragedies and disasters throughout history. Host Erik Rivenes interviews authors and historians who have studied their subjects for years. Their stories are offered with unique insight, detail, and historical accuracy.
1d ago
In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its gruesome mutilations led to a firestorm of publicity, city-wide panic, and an unprecedented number of investigative paths led by the LAPD—all dead ends. The Black Dahlia murder remained an unsolved mystery for over seventy years. Six years earlier and sixteen hundred miles away, another woman’s life had ended in a similarly horrific manner. Leila Welsh was an ambitious, educated, popular, and socially connected beauty. Though raised modestly on a prairie farm, she was heiress to her Kansas City family’s status and wealth. On a winter morning in 1941, Leila’s butchered body was found in her bedroom bearing the marks of unspeakable trauma. One victim faded into obscurity. The other became notorious. Both had in common a killer whose sadistic mind was a labyrinth of dark secrets. My guest is Emmy-nominated producer Eli Frankel. He has spent years researching the Black Dahlia case and makes a very convincing argument for his suspect in his recently published book, "SISTERS IN DEATH: The Black Dahlia, The Prairie Heiress & Their Hunter". The Sisters In Death website: https://www.sistersindeath.com/ The author's personal website: https://www.elibfrankel.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
4d ago
Original Publication Date: 4/3/22 On Christmas Eve, 1900, 44-year-old dry goods store owner Frank Richardson was shot to death in his Savannah, Missouri home. Suspects included his wife Addie, his teenage lover Goldie Whitehead, and the man whom he suspected his wife of having an affair with, Stewart Fife. Kimberly Tilley makes her third visit to the podcast. Her book "Has it Come to This? The Mysterious Unsolved Murder of Frank Richardson" explores this largely forgotten murder mystery in titillating detail. More information here at the author's website: https://oldspirituals.com/ Check out the new cover here! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3KZPMVY?crid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 11
On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism. Their decision to sacrifice the youngest —17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today. My guest is bestselling author Adam Cohen. His new book, published on November 18th, is called "Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History". The author's website: http://adamscohenwriter.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 3
In 1942, two Abwehr German agents, including Johannes Eppler, slipped into Cairo to gather intelligence for Rommel’s desert campaign, getting help from local allies like the famous dancer Hekmet Fahmy and Anwar Sadat. Despite their efforts to infiltrate British circles, the whole operation eventually fell apart once Allied intelligence caught on. My guest, once again, is Gavin Whitehead, creator of The Art of Crime Podcast . His sixth season of the show (all about espionage) is now available wherever podcasts are heard. Gavin's website: https://www.artofcrimepodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 26
November 10, 2025, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald during a vicious Lake Superior storm. All 29 crew members were lost, a tragedy later memorialized in Gordon Lightfoot’s iconic song. My guest is bestselling author John U. Bacon, who shares details from his new book, "The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The author's website: https://johnubacon.com/ The author's publisher page: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324094647 The author on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnUBaconAuthor/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 21
In the winter of 1924-1925, quiet Medina County, Ohio, was shaken to its core. Martha Wise, an ordinary farm widow with an extraordinary obsession, slipped arsenic into her family’s food and water. Three of her relatives were dead, dozens more gravely ill, and a rural community was gripped by fear. What followed was a murder investigation and trial unlike anything the Midwest had ever seen. Was Martha a cold-blooded killer, or (as she later claimed) a woman under the spell of the Devil himself? I'm joined in this latest episode of Most Notorious by Rod Kackley. He is the author of "The Murders of Martha Wise: A Shocking True Crime Story". The author's website: https://www.rodkackley.com/ Our interview about the murder of Thora Chamberlain on the Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/2022/05/14/the-murder-of-thora-chamberlain-w-rod-kackley/ and the Disappearance of Molly Zelko: https://www.mostnotorious.com/2025/03/22/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-molly-zelko-w-rod-kackley/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 15
Original Pub Date: 1/14/19 On July 2nd, 1881, a disappointed and mentally unstable office-seeker named Charles Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield in a Washington D.C. train station. Over the next weeks, Garfield would linger, bedridden, as infection set in, caused by poor medical treatment, and America would wait with bated breath over whether their beloved president would survive. Meanwhile, Guiteau, the most hated man in America, would face trial and possible execution. My guest is Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author, who discusses her book "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President". The author's website: https://www.candicemillard.com/destiny-of-the-republic.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 12
Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were two complicated men whose steadfast friendship became one of the legendary relationships of the American West. Both were flawed, and often on uncertain moral ground, yet their bond carried them through the violent world of frontier justice, culminating in a deadly conflict with the Clanton-McLaury gang in Tombstone, Arizona. It's a story of two very different men who became linked forever by circumstance and loyalty. With his new book, "Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone", historian Mark Lee Gardner offers a clear-eyed account of who Doc and Wyatt really were. He joins me to talk about their partnership and the lasting myths that have grown from a friendship rooted in both loyalty and survival. Mark's website: https://songofthewest.com/ More from his publisher: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/711805/brothers-of-the-gun-by-mark-lee-gardner/ Mark Lee Gardner on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3YOcr3okF0fjheNeOLpyzU Mark's Brothers of the Gun Western Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jbh2Rl1fgD1ry8Ex1KM5W?si=4niAaWv7Tl2ESSYf_ZlnLQ Mark's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCNOVu3xJh6/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
