Old Blood

Old Blood

The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Join us as a historian investigates history's most fascinating cases of true crime.

  1. The Raymond Ripper: The Brutal 1906 Murder of James Logan

    10/13/2025

    The Raymond Ripper: The Brutal 1906 Murder of James Logan

    In 1906, the mutilated body of young sales clerk James Logan was discovered on Southern California’s grandest resort hotel, The Raymond. When an African American tailor was accused of the crime, the city’s allegiances split. Half of the city of Pasadena wanted the man condemned to death, but the other half fought to save him, believing he had been framed. Sources: Biery, Bryan. “The Princes: Pasadena’s Regal Family.” Colorado Boulevard Newspaper. 12 March, 2024. https://www.coloradoboulevard.net/the-princes-pasadenas-regal-family/ Lindquist, Heather. “‘Exploring Pasadena’s Past’- The Heart of Pasadena’s Communities of Color.” Pasadena Museum of History. 18 June, 2022. https://pasadenahistory.org/exploring-pasadenas-past-the-heart-of-pasadenas-communities-of-color/ Liu, Yan. “A full moon in another land: The Moon Bridge in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Library.” Frontiers of Architectural Research Vol. 9 Iss. 3, September 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263520300182#abs0010 Most of this episode consists of original research, drawn from the newspapers listed below. Newspapers:  California Eagle Liberator (Los Angeles) Long Beach Tribune Los Angeles Evening Express Los Angeles Evening Post Record Los Angeles Herald Los Angeles Times Pasadena Star News Pasadena Post Sacramento Daily Union San Francisco Daily Call South Pasadenan South Pasadena Record Music: Edvard Grieg's 1906 'Butterfly' is this episode's background music. Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston.  For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    1h 47m
  2. Sexy Death Mystery: The Death of Starr Faithfull

    09/22/2025

    Sexy Death Mystery: The Death of Starr Faithfull

    A sexy death mystery unfolded in 1931 New York City, when a socialite washed up on the shores of Long Island. Was her death an accident, a suicide, or foul play at the hands of the many prominent men she knew? Sources: Allhoff, Fred. “The Starr Faithfull Enigma.” Liberty. June 12, 1939. Pp. 20-23. “Five Starr Faithfull.” TIME. June 29, 1931. https://time.com/archive/6747467/the-press-five-starr-faithfull/ Goodman, Jonathan. The Passing of Starr Faithfull (Kent: The Kent State University Press, 1996). Kennedy, Helen. “Dangerous Game: Starr Faithfull, 1931” New York Daily News, 1999. Markey, Morris. “The Mysterious Death of Starr Faithfull” in The Aspirin Age: 1919-1941. Ed. Isabel Leighton (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949). Nash, Jay Robert. Open Files: A narrative encyclopedia of the world’s greatest unsolved crimes (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983). “Starr Crossed.” Strange Company. March 14, 2016. https://strangeco.blogspot.com/2016/03/starr-crossed.html Verdict Press. Crimes of Passion (London: Verdict Press, 1975). Newspapers:  Brooklyn Standard-Union Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) Indianapolis Times Nassau Daily Review New York Times Washington Times Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    1h 2m
  3. Whiskey & Arsenic: The First Murder By Mail

    09/01/2025

    Whiskey & Arsenic: The First Murder By Mail

    The first ‘Murder by Mail’ was sent to Mrs. Josephine Barnaby in 1891 in the form of an arsenic-laced whiskey bottle. When she and a friend drank the whiskey, both fell violently ill. The resulting murder trial would tear families apart for decades to come. Sources: Conrad, Barnaby. A Revolting Transaction (New York: Arbor House, 1983). Day, Martin C. Death in the Mail (Providence: The Journal Print, 1892). Galpern, Jennifer L. “Happy New Year…in April?” The Rhode Island Historical Society. 13 April, 2017. https://www.rihs.org/happy-new-year-in-april/ Newspapers:  Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) Fort Worth Gazette Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven) Narragansett Herald New York Times Pawtucket Tribune Providence News Portland Daily Press Rock Island Daily Argus Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    54 min
  4. Murder Pure & Simple: Love and Violence in 1869 New York

    08/11/2025

    Murder Pure & Simple: Love and Violence in 1869 New York

    A fatal 1869 shooting at the New York Tribune led to a contentious debate about love, divorce, and women’s rights in America.  Sources: Cazauran, A. R. The Trial of Daniel McFarland for the Shooting of Albert D. Richardson (New York: W. E. Hilton, 1870). Cooper, George. Lost Love: A True Story of Passion, Murder, and Justice in Old New York (Pantheon Books: New York, 1994).  Ganz, Melissa J. “Wicked Women and Veiled Ladies: Gendered Narratives of the McFarland-Richardson Tragedy.” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. Vol. 9. 1997. McAvey, Marion. “Abby Sage Richardson.” EBSCO. 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/abby-sage-richardson Richardson, Abby Sage. Old Love Letters (Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1883). The Richardson-McFarland Tragedy: Containing all the letters and other interesting facts and documents not before published. (Barclay & Co. Publishers: Philadelphia, 1870). Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. “Speech on the McFarland Trial, Apollo Hall,” Speeches & Writings File. May 17, 1870 Wilhelm, Robert. “The Richardson-McFarland Tragedy.” Murder By Gaslight. 10 July, 2010. https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/07/richardson-mcfarland-tragedy.html Newspapers: Buffalo Express New York Times New York Tribune Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    1h 5m
  5. Death House: The Life & Crimes of George Hassell

    07/21/2025

    Death House: The Life & Crimes of George Hassell

    Texas authorities arrested George Hassell on Christmas Day of 1926 after his wife and her eight children went missing. George cried, “I did it,” then confessed to the murder of another family ten years prior in California. This is his story. Sources: Churchill, Marlowe J. “Hassell offered detailed confession.” The Eastern New Mexico News. 3 September, 2019. https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2019/09/04/news/hassell-offered-detailed-confession/162888.html “George J Hassell’s Murderous Ways.” Texas Genealogy Trails. https://genealogytrails.com/tex/panhandle/parmer/news_crime_hassell_murders_story.htm Guy, Fiona. “Family Annihilation: The Crimes and Psychology of Familicide.” Crime Traveller. 13 May, 2019. https://www.crimetraveller.org/2019/05/family-annihilation-crimes-psychology-familicide/ Hanlon, R.E., Brook, M., Demery, J.A. and Cunningham, M.D. (2016), Domestic Homicide: Neuropsychological Profiles of Murderers Who Kill Family Members and Intimate Partners. J Forensic Sci, 61: S163-S170. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12908 Ortlieb, Tracy Collins. “Inside the Mind of ‘Family Annihilators.’” 19 January 2023. https://www.parents.com/parenting/dynamics/inside-the-mind-of-family-annihilators/ Roth, Mitchel P. Man with the Killer Smile: The Life & Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2022). Wight, Pam. “‘Death House’ Slayings gain attention.”24, February, 2007. https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2007/02/24/death-house-slayings-gain-attention/ Newspapers: Douglas Daily Dispatch Los Angeles Times Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    59 min
  6. The Beautiful & The Bestial: A Courtesan, a Prince, and a Murder at the Savoy

    06/30/2025

    The Beautiful & The Bestial: A Courtesan, a Prince, and a Murder at the Savoy

    A deadly shooting at London’s extravagant Savoy Hotel in 1923 prompted a murder trial that pitted East against West. Was the tragedy the result of a pharaoh’s curse or merely the consequence of a lover’s quarrel? Sources: Bland, Lucy.  “Mme Fahmy’s Vindication: Orientalism, miscegenation fears, and female fantasy,” in Modern Women on Trial: Sexual Transgression in the Age of the Flapper (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013). Pp. 132-175 Leake, Natasha. “How a beguiling French courtesan captured the heart of a young British prince, in a love affair that scandalised the Royal Family.” The Tatler. 19 February 2023. https://www.tatler.com/article/prince-harrys-memoir-love-affair-edward-viii-and-french-courtesan Rose, Andrew. The Woman Before Wallis: Prince Edward, the Parisian Courtesan, and the Perfect Murder (New York: Picador, 2013). “The Perfect Murder.” Royalty Magazine. Vol. 23/01. https://www.royalty-magazine.com/books-film/the-perfect-murder-2.html Verdict Press. Crimes of Passion (London: Verdict Press, 1975). Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    54 min

  7. 06/09/2025

    If Murder There Was: Typhoid & Tragedy in 1909 Missouri

    Six nurses threatened to storm out of the Swope mansion in Missouri at the height of a 1909 typhoid epidemic, claiming that “people are being murdered in this house.” Was the Swope family dying of typhoid, or was it something more nefarious? Sources: Carus, W. Seth. Bioterrorism and Bicrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents since 1900 (Amsterdam: Fredonia Books, 2002). Deel, Karla. Storied & Scandalous Kansas City: A History of Corruption, Mischief and a Whole Lot of Booze.(Lanham, MD, Globe Pequot, 2019). Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (The James H Barry Company, 1910).  Fowler, Giles. Deaths on Pleasant Street (Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2009). Martin, Mackenzie. “The strange case of Mr. Swope and Dr. Hyde: Kansas City’s great unsolved murder mystery.” KCUR. https://www.kcur.org/history/2023-10-25/thomas-swope-park-murder-trial-bennett-hyde-kansas-city-mystery “Medicine: Murders in Missouri.” TIME. 20 August, 1934. https://time.com/archive/6894959/medicine-murders-in-missouri/ Newspapers: The Kansas City Star St. Petersburg Times St. Louis Globe Democrat St. Louis Post-Dispatch The Detroit Times The Pittsburgh Press The New York Times Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    1h 19m
  8. Bullets for Ruth: The Wanderers & The Ragged Stranger

    05/19/2025

    Bullets for Ruth: The Wanderers & The Ragged Stranger

    Chicago crime reporters descended upon Ruth and Carl Wanderer’s Chicago home after the war hero’s wife was shot dead in a holdup at their front door. Who was the Ragged Stranger who assaulted them? And why did he have Carl Wanderer’s service weapon? Sources: Bigge, Lauren. “‘Shell Shock Treatments During World War I: A First Step Towards Modern Military Psychiatry.” National Museum of Health and Medicine. https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/index.cfm?p=media.news.article.2018.shell_shock_treatment Eghigian, Greg. “ The First World War and the Legacy of Shellshock.” Vol. 31, No. 4. Psychiatric Times. 28 February, 2018. Hecht, Ben. Charlie: The improbable Life & Times of Charles MacArthur (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957). Lesy, Michael. Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007) Murray, George in The Chicago Crime Book Ed. Albert Halper. (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1967). Nash, Jay Robert. Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present (New York: M. Evans & Company, 1973). Schechter, Harold. Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects (New York: Workman Publishing Co., 2023). As well as articles from the Washington Times, The Manning Times, Richmond TImes-dispatch, Chicago Tribune. And the Chicago Homicide database entry https://homicide.northwestern.edu/database/5270/ Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston. Also featuring “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” by Jack Judge and “Old Pal” by Henry Burr. For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    51 min
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4.9
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Join us as a historian investigates history's most fascinating cases of true crime.

Information

  • Creator
    Old Blood
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Old Blood
  • Show Website
    Old Blood