Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Most Notorious Plus
Most Notorious Plus

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.

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  1. 22h ago

    463: “The Autographed Corpse”: The Murder of Margaret Edwards w/ Jack El-Hai

    In February 1933, on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona, Margaret Edwards was found beaten to death along a lonely footpath, hours after a bitter argument with her husband. He was Silas John Edwards, a charismatic Apache medicine man and founder of the Holy Ground religion, which had alarmed reservation officials and missionaries alike. Suspicion quickly fell on Silas John, though the evidence against him was strange and flimsy, including a rock found near the body that had been scratched with his initials. It was a case that would one day capture the attention of Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason. My guest this week is Jack El-Hai, author of The Case of the Autographed Corpse: A Medicine Man and a Mystery Writer in Pursuit of Justice. He joins us to talk about Silas John’s complicated life, the murder that upended it, and the unlikely bond that formed between a famous mystery writer and an Apache spiritual leader. The author's website: https://www.el-hai.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 6d ago

    462: Lucky Devils: The Gamblers Who Beat the Odds w/ Kit Chellel

    Beginning in the late 1970s, a small band of mathematically minded gamblers, among them Bill Benter, Bill Nelson, and Rob Reitzen, set out to do what most people believe is impossible: beat the house. Armed with homemade computers, statistical models, and endless patience, these “advantage players” took on casinos, racetracks, and bookmakers in Las Vegas and around the world. It was a dangerous game, played in an era when the Mob still loomed over the casino floor. Their story is a fascinating chapter in the history of both gambling and technology. My guest is Kit Chellel, author of Lucky Devils: The True Story of Three Rebel Gamblers Who Beat the Odds and Changed the Game. He joins us to talk about these men and the high-stakes world they navigated. The author's publisher page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kit-Chellel/225568839 The author on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kit-chellel-17508212 The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitchellelwriter/ The author on Twitter/X: https://x.com/KitChellel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. Oct 28

    461: The Fire Witch & the 1876 Brooklyn Theater Inferno w/ Melanie Gall

    On December 5, 1876, a packed house at the Brooklyn Theatre was watching the hit melodrama "The Two Orphans" when star Kate Claxton spotted a small flame above the stage. The actors kept performing, hoping to prevent a panic. Within twenty minutes, the theatre had collapsed, killing roughly 300 people, most of them trapped in the cheap seats of the upper gallery. Kate escaped, but the press soon gave her a new name: the Fire Witch. My guest this week is Melanie Gall, author of "Fire Witch: Kate Claxton and the 1876 Brooklyn Theatre Inferno". We talk about Kate’s scandalous rise, the harrowing minutes inside the burning theatre, and how the tragedy reshaped her reputation forever. The author's website: https://www.melaniegall.com/ The author's publisher page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fire-Witch/Melanie-Gall/9781493098309 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. Oct 24

    MoNo Encore: The Life & Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe w/ Mark Dawidziak

    Edgar Allan Poe is, of course, one of America's most iconic writers. Many credit him with inventing or popularizing multiple literary genres, including mystery, horror and detective fiction. But the real Poe has become distorted over the years - transformed by fans into a dark and tortured soul obsessed with alcohol and death. My guest is author Mark Dawidziak, and his new book is called "A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe". He not only shares with us what Poe was really like, but also walks us through some of the many theories surrounding Poe's agonizing death in a Baltimore hospital in October of 1849. He also talks about possible explanations for Poe's mysterious three missing days - just before he was discovered, delirious and in another man's clothes, at a Baltimore polling-place. More about the author's prolific work at his website, here: ⁠https://www.markdawidziak.com/⁠ Connect with the author through Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/mark.dawidziak⁠ (Orig Pub Date 2/14/23). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. Oct 20

    460: Dr. Joseph Bell: The Real Sherlock Holmes w/ Lindsey Fitzharris

    Throughout nineteenth-century Edinburgh, the surgeon Joseph Bell was known for his extraordinary talent for detection and diagnosis. To the amazement of onlookers at the Royal Infirmary, he could read a patient’s ailments, occupation, and personal habits from a single glance. Though such deductive powers were all quite “elementary” to Bell, they had a profound influence on the medical student and budding writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Soon enough, Bell’s methods helped spark the creation of fiction’s most iconic detective. My guest is New York Times bestselling author and medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris, author of the new book Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes. We talk about Bell’s complicated bond with Conan Doyle and a couple of the murder cases Bell investigated alongside his friend, Edinburgh police surgeon Henry Duncan Littlejohn. The two men even took an unofficial interest in the Whitechapel murders. The author's website: https://drlindseyfitzharris.com/ The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlindseyfitzharris The author on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrLindseyFitzharris/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Oct 15

    459: Taiwan's 1957 Liu Ziran Incident & Reynolds Riot w/ Stephen G. Craft

    In March 1957, Master Sergeant Robert Reynolds, a U.S. military adviser living with his family outside Taipei, Taiwan, shot and killed a man named Liu Ziran, who Reynolds claimed had been peeping through his bathroom window. Because Reynolds had diplomatic immunity, he was tried by a U.S. Army court-martial, and Taiwanese officials had no say in the proceedings. When he was acquitted that May, outrage boiled over, and an angry mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in Taipei. My guest is Stephen G. Craft, author of American Justice in Taiwan: The 1957 Riots and Cold War Foreign Policy. He discusses how Taiwan emerged as a political power separate from mainland China, and the uneasy but mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and the Republic of China in the 1950s. The author's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University bio page: https://erau.edu/faculty/Stephen.Craft The author's publisher page: https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813166353/american-justice-in-taiwan/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Oct 9

    458: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor w/ Sara McDougall

    In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor’s orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault and about the victim’s history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques’s inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. My guest is Sara McDougall, and her book Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor follows Jaques’s investigation as he uncovers one woman’s story of resilience and survival. More about the author here: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/sara-mcdougall The author's publisher page: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691268910/justice-for-jehanne The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saramcdougall_medieval/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Oct 1

    457: Lizzie Borden Case Expert Cara Robertson Returns

    There has been lots of buzz recently about Netflix's gory new series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, and Cara Robertson, author of "The Trial of Lizzie Borden", joins me once again, this time to share her thoughts on how the case is depicted, separate fact from fiction and to answer some Patreon supporter questions. Cara's website: https://www.carawrobertson.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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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.

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