Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning Podcast

Welcome to Dead Reckoning, the podcast where death isn't the end of the story. Hosted by writer and creator Courtney Minick, and journalist and author Beth Winegarner, based in San Francisco. Produced by Carolyn Kissick and Here Lies a Story. Artwork by Dante Silliman.

  1. 4d ago

    Mission Dolores Cemetery: That's foreshadowing, you guys!

    The indigenous people of San Francisco were just minding their business (for at least 10,000 years) when Spanish missionaries showed up, dropped a church on them and opened the city's first settler cemetery. In this episode, we look at the history of Mission San Francisco de Asís (that's Mission Dolores to you) and its churchyard, which now holds about 11,000 graves — more than half of them indigenous — and just a couple hundred headstones. Tune in to find out how this burial ground became one of the only remaining marked cemeteries in the city.    Sources: "San Francisco's Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History" by Beth Winegarner: https://www.bethwinegarner.com/san-franciscos-forgotten-cemeteries Mission District watershed map: https://explore.museumca.org/creeks/images/OMMission900.jpg St. Francis of Assisi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi "MIssion Dolores," FoundSF: https://www.foundsf.org/Mission_Dolores "Mission Plank Road," FoundSF: https://www.foundsf.org/Mission_Plank_Road "Mission Dolores Curator Aims to Humanize Site's Indigenous Dead," Mission Local: https://missionlocal.org/2024/03/mission-dolores-curator-aims-to-humanize-sites-indigenous-dead/ Belle and Charles Cora https://www.instagram.com/p/C2xlslevN-9/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== COURTNEY AND BETH at Mission Dolores for Mission Local! https://missionlocal.org/2026/01/sf-dead-reckoning-podcast-beth-winegarner-courtney-minick/

  2. May 29

    The People's Temple: A San Francisco Story

    You've probably heard about Jim Jones, the People's Temple, and the infamous mass killing at Jonestown, but did you know that all of this kicked off in San Francisco? That Jim Jones was deeply entangled with city leadership, participating in corruption and cover-ups? It's … not great! Join Courtney and Beth for the real story of People's Temple: How they settled in San Francisco, placed their cronies at every level of government, and co-opted the civil rights and social justice movements of the era to their own nefarious ends. Beth also tells us how the tragedy and controversies live on through ongoing issues with the victims' burial monument in Oakland. Show Notes Jonestown Archive at SDSU A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres Season of the Witch by David Talbot Last Podcast on the Left: Jonestown Latest on Buck Kamphausen's legal situation: https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-businessman-faces-new-fines-for-funeral-home-businesses/ Corruption in San Francisco Agencies: In the Department of Public Works In the Department of Building Inspection In the PUC On the Planning Commission

  3. May 6

    SF Almshouse: a little anti-Irish sentiment, a little ghost story.

    Long before we had protracted, bad-faith government arguments over the political football of welfare, food, and medical aid, we had ALMSHOUSES. If you were poor, sick, or hungry in the United States, this is where you went for help. Were they great? Probably not! Were they better than the workhouses in England that sold your body after you died? Yes! Join Courtney and Beth to learn about the Almshouse in San Francisco, which opened in the 1850s and is now a skilled nursing facility. We trace the origins of indoor and outdoor poor relief in the US, talk about what the women of the Almshouse were up to, and speculate wildly on whether people are buried on the property. Show Notes Laguna Honda - architectural review that includes history Encyclopedia Britannica article On Social Services Almshouse Women Book - In the Shadow of the Poorhouse by Michael Katz Social Welfare History Project KEDITS on Substack - modern labor economy analysis

  4. Apr 20 ·  Bonus

    The Medical Examiner and the Missing Skull (allegedly)

    San Francisco just agreed to pay $750,000 in a settlement to a former investigator for the Medical Examiner's office, who says she was fired after she accused the office's director of throwing away a human skull. Beth and Courtney talk about the lawsuit, allegations of bullying and bigotry in the Medical Examiner's office, and the unidentified man whose remains are at the center of the story. Show Notes Sources/For further reading: "SF Medical Examiner Lags in Ruling on Deaths" https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/s-f-medical-examiner-lags-in-ruling-on-deaths-5006771.php#photo-5500915 "San Francisco to Pay $750K in Lawsuit Alleging Top Official Threw Away Human Skull" https://www.kqed.org/news/12072739/san-francisco-to-pay-750k-in-lawsuit-alleging-top-official-threw-away-human-skull "S.F. to pay $750K after employee says she was fired for reporting missing skull" https://archive.is/20260414221457/https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-to-pay-750k-to-employee-over-missing-skull-22204428.php#selection-1565.0-1565.272 San Francisco Superior Court, case number CGC-24-612139 at SF County Civil Court Case Info https://sf.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-information "Roaches, worms, and hellish elevator rides: SF's crumbling courthouse" https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/18/inside-crumbling-san-francisco-hall-of-justice/ "San Francisco settles suit involving Jeff Adachi autopsy dispute" https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigation/san-francisco-jeff-adachi-autopsy/3177264/ "Supervisors denounce leak of police report on death of Jeff Adachi" https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/supervisors-denounce-leak-of-police-report-on-death-of-jeff-adachi/article_30220e50-3c05-548e-a57d-48d96bf99a9d.html "SFPD rate of solving crimes, already well below the national average, gets worse" https://missionlocal.org/2022/04/sfpd-rate-of-solving-crimes-already-well-below-national-average-gets-worse/ "The year in crime 2024: 4 charts that tell the story" https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/02/san-francisco-2025-crime-stats/ On national rape kit backlogs https://www.endthebacklog.org/what-is-the-backlog/

  5. Apr 18

    Abortion in San Francisco 2: The villain edit

    Who were San Francisco's abortion doctors? In the second part of our look at this history, Beth introduces us to three practitioners, including a son who took up the family business after his father retired, and an iconoclastic woman who built a successful practice and never lost a patient.   Sources: "Murder. Death from an Abortion…The Body Exhumed… Result of a Post Mortem Examination… Arrest of Dr. Charles O'Donnell," Daily Alta California, Volume 23, Number 7630, 11 February 1871 "The Unrepentant Abortionist," Rae Alexandra, KQED "Inez Burns," Here Lies a Story Statistics from the Guttmacher Institute: https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states Wellness Quackery in the the early 19th Century - one example The Macabre History of the Crescent Hotel Age Gaps in Teen Pregnancies and Teen Pregnancy Statistics Domestic Violence and Pregnancy Inez Burns Entrance to Charles C. O'Donnell's Cozy Castle in Glen Ellen

  6. Mar 20

    Abortion in San Francisco 1: A black market

    Abortion was a booming business in San Francisco in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As in many parts of the country, women here sought ways to manage their lives and families, and doctors practiced often dubious procedures in an ever-changing legal landscape. In this episode, we start off with a fatal case in which a doctor went on trial for murder, and we look at the history of abortion practice and law, locally and across the U.S. Sources: "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers," Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, 1973 "Abortion in America : the origins and evolution of national policy, 1800-1900," James C. Mohr, 1978 San Francisco Call, Volume 108, Number 121, 29 September 1910: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19100929.2.11.1 For information on abortion providers, services, and laws in the US: I Need An A Acid Attacks: Pakistan's Worst Social Epidemic Evie Magazine, Ballerina Farms, and the Yassification of Christian Nationalism Peter Thiel's Investment Firm is Backing a Menstrual Cycle-Focused "Femtech" Company What is the Comstock Act? Center for Reproductive Rights This Podcast Will Kill You: Pregnancy The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and Childbirth in the US The True Story Behind the Welfare Queen Stereotype Buck v. Bell + The Right to Self Determination: Freedom from Involuntary Sterilization Abortion Everyday: Tradwife Classes for High Schoolers? Production Note We recorded this episode in two sessions so you may come across some differences in audio, or you may not notice at all. Fingers crossed for the latter. - CK

  7. Mar 6

    City Cemetery: It's Just Like "Poltergeist"

    Do you have a favorite cemetery and, if so, why is it City Cemetery, which currently lies hidden under Lincoln Park Golf Course and the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco? You know the one, with 20,000 people lying unmarked and invisible? Come with us on a journey back to the Gold Rush, where not one, but two cemeteries were closed and moved to the newest municipal burial ground, CITY CEMETERY, where they would eventually be abandoned and turned over to golfers and museum-goers. If you liked hearing about the PIT OF BONES at Fort Mason and Yerba Buena Cemetery, you'll love finding out what a CHARNEL HEAP is in this episode. Show Notes San Francisco's Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History: https://www.bethwinegarner.com/san-franciscos-forgotten-cemeteries Here Lies A Story : Lost Cemeteries of San Francisco  https://hereliesastory.com/lost-cemeteries-of-san-francisco/ SF Genealogy, City Cemetery: https://mail.sfgenealogy.org/doku.php?id=san_francisco_history:cemeteries:city Alma de Bretteville Spreckels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_de_Bretteville_Spreckels Tunnel boring machine "Big Alma" Richard Barnes, "Still Rooms and Excavations:" https://www.richardbarnes.net/still-rooms/883irtu53jjpubdflaiy0p67uosyrz Nikki the Archaeologist: https://www.instagram.com/nikki.the.archaeologist/ City Cemetery landmarking: https://www.sfheritage.org/community/lincoln-park-officially-designated-as-a-city-landmark/

  8. 12/05/2025

    Interview with funeral director Steven Welch: The Pope's hands

    Steven Welch, a fifth-generation funeral director at San Francisco's Duggan's Funeral Service, joins Beth and Courtney to share what mortician life is like, both today and historically. He also dishes about the embalming job on Pope Francis, how HBO's "Six Feet Under" feels torn from the pages of his own family's life, and how cremation services leave room for funerary malfeasance. Links: Jessica Mitford, "The American Way of Death" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death Valencia Street funeral home map, FoundSF: https://www.shapingsf.org/images/fall2021/Corridor to Colma 11x17_final smaller.pdf Pope Francis' embalmed hands:

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About

Welcome to Dead Reckoning, the podcast where death isn't the end of the story. Hosted by writer and creator Courtney Minick, and journalist and author Beth Winegarner, based in San Francisco. Produced by Carolyn Kissick and Here Lies a Story. Artwork by Dante Silliman.

Information

  • Creator
    Dead Reckoning Podcast
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Dead Reckoning