Bad Bridget Queen's University Belfast

We’ve saved our most sensational cases to the end! Hear about the woman who murdered her neighbour and put her in a trunk to steal her house, the wife who suspected her husband of having an affair, and the Irish serial killer who was the first women in America to be sentenced to death by the electric chair.

Listen to the stories of girls and women who left Ireland pregnant or became pregnant in North America outside marriage. Some who migrated from Ireland believed their partners would follow them, only to find themselves alone and thousands of miles from home. Hear how for some women having a baby out of wedlock had tragic consequences.

The Irish have a long association with alcohol and in this podcast we look at what happened to those Irish women who got into trouble with alcohol abroad. Those who drank to drown their sorrows, the mothers who neglected their children, and groups of women whose drinking on the streets brought them to court.

Enjoy a preview of the next 3 episodes in the Bad Bridget podcast, where we'll be hearing about the struggles and `shame' of unmarried mothers, the impact of the demon drink on our Bad Bridgets and the most sensational crime of all - murders committed by Irish women

Welcome to the Bad Bridget Podcast! Hear how many young Irish girls and women, some as young as 11 or 12, travelled alone to America to escape poverty at home and to earn money for their families. Listen to how the discrimination and prejudice experienced by the Irish over 150 years ago has similar echoes in today’s society.

Many Irish women travelled to North America, got jobs and sent money home. But perhaps their families did not know where that money came from! Hear about the Irish women who became sex workers, about wrongful convictions and how much family reputation really mattered to some.