39 episodes

The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Follow a murder historian back in time to re-live history's most significant crimes with the historical context that you won't find on other true crime podcasts.

Old Blood Old Blood

    • History
    • 5.0 • 10 Ratings

The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Follow a murder historian back in time to re-live history's most significant crimes with the historical context that you won't find on other true crime podcasts.

    Foreigner: A Murder in Peking

    Foreigner: A Murder in Peking

    In 1937, Peking police discovered a British schoolgirl at the bottom of an ancient wall with her heart torn from her chest. The investigation unraveled multiple theories that increased tension between locals and the many foreigners living in China at the dawn of World War II.
    Sources:
    Cook, Isham. “Midnight in Peking and true crime fiction.” Isham Cook. 11 January, 2020. https://ishamcook.com/2020/01/11/midnight-in-peking-and-true-crime-fiction/
    Daugelait, Tautvile. “Author Graeme Shepard Disputes Paul French’s Famed Peking Murder Book.” The Beijinger. 12 November, 2018. https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2018/11/08/its-great-story-he-wrong-graeme-shepard-opposes-infamous-peking-murder-conclusions
    French, Paul. Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China. (New York: Penguin Books, 2011).
    Jenne, Jeremiah. “Who Killed Pamela Werner?” The World of Chinese. 7 April, 2019. https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2019/04/who-killed-pamela-werner/
    Sheppard, Graeme. A Death in Peking: Who Killed Pamela Werner. (Earnshaw Books, 2018).
    “A Death in Peking: Who Really Killed Pamela Werner.” Blog. https://www.pamelawernermurderpeking.com/blog
    “Who Really Killed Pamela Werner? Re-examining Old Beijing’s Most Infamous Murder.” The China Project. 1 November, 2018. https://thechinaproject.com/2018/11/01/who-really-killed-pamela-werner-a-death-in-peking/
    Spence, Jonathan D. “Who Killed Pamela Werner in Peking?” ChinaFile. 21 March, 2013. https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/who-killed-pamela-peking 
    Perlez, Jane. “A Mystery Endures in Beijing’s Old Legation Quarter.” The New York Times. 2 May, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/travel/a-mystery-endures-in-beijings-old-legation-quarter.html
    Music: Fesilyanstudios.com


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 1 hr 15 min
    Death Dealing: Ned Doheny, Hugh Plunkett & LA Noire

    Death Dealing: Ned Doheny, Hugh Plunkett & LA Noire

    In 1929, the son of oil magnate Edward Doheny was found dead beside his secretary in an apparent murder-suicide. The news exploded onto the papers for three days before the district attorney canceled the inquest and closed the case. When detectives decided there had been foul play, they were silenced, leaving everyone to wonder what truly went on that night at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.


    Sources:
    Columbia, David Patrick. “The Continuing Mystery of The Greystone Mansion Murders.” New York Social Diary. April 12, 2022. https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/the-continuing-mystery-of-the-greystone-mansion-murders/
    Davis, Margaret Leslie. The Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Berkeley, University of California Press: 1998).
    “If These Walls Could Talk…” Los Angeles Public Library. July 30, 2013. https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/if-these-walls-could-talk
    Lockwood, Charles and Persic, Peter V. “Greystone Historical Report.” August 30, 1984. https://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/11/519277.pdf
    Marshall, Norman S. “Californians and the Military: The Forgotten Bagman of Teapot Dome: Edward ‘Ned’ Doheny Lawrence Jr.” Cal Guard Military Museums. https://www.militarymuseum.org/Doheny.html
    Meares, Hadley. “We Shall Never Know: Murder, Money and the Enduring Mystery of Greystone Mansion.” KCET. July 25, 2014. https://www.kcet.org/history-society/we-shall-never-know-murder-money-and-the-enduring-mystery-of-greystone-mansion
    Rasmussen, Cecilia. “D.A. Fitts Was Good Match For Scandalous 30s.” Los Angeles Times. September 19, 1999. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-19-me-12084-story.html
    Rayner, Richard. A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption and L.A.’s Scandalous Coming of Age (New York: Anchor Books, 2010).
    Skene, Gordon. “1930s Los Angeles – Buron Fitts: L.A.’s Little Corruption Problem And Clifford Clinton’s War On City Hall.” Past Daily. August 23, 2017. https://pastdaily.com/2017/08/23/1930s-los-angeles-clifford-clinton/
    Starr, Kevin. Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). 
    Stein, Jean. West of Eden: An American Place (New York: Random House, 2016).
    White, Leslie T. Me, Detective. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936.) Ch. 18. 
    Welton, Benjamin. “Vintage Noir: The Tragedy at Greystone.” Crime Magazine. May 16, 2013. http://www.crimemagazine.com/vintage-noir-tragedy-greystone
    Van Landingham, Andrea. Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-ups From Tinseltown (Guilford: Lyons Press, 2022).


    Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 1 hr 15 min
    Bloodstone: The Corpse in the Cylinder

    Bloodstone: The Corpse in the Cylinder

    The Blitz in Liverpool, England, unearthed a long-buried cylinder. When a child discovered a corpse inside, it ignited a century-old mystery.


    Sources:
    “The Blitz.” The History Place: World War II in Europe. 1998. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/about-blitz.htm
    “The Body in the Cylinder: How a Discovery During World War Two Revealed an Unsolved Victorian Era Mystery.” Creative History: Little Known Stories from the Past. January 10, 2021. https://creativehistorystories.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-body-in-cylinder-how-discovery.html
    “Knock, Knock, Ginger: The History of the Ding-Dong-Ditch Prank.” Professional Moron. April 18, 2022. https://professionalmoron.com/2022/04/18/history-of-knock-knock-ginger/
    “Liverpool and the Blitz.” National Museums of Liverpool. https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/museum-of-liverpool/blitz/liverpool-and-blitz#section--you-may-also-like
    “Liverpool May Blitz 1941.” Old Mersey Times. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/blitz1941.html
    The London Gazette for the Year 1885. Vol II. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1885). P. 4250. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_London_Gazette/vyVKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=thomas+cregeen+williams&pg=PA4250&printsec=frontcover
    Pye, Ken. Liverpool Murders and Misdemeanours. (United Kingdom: Amberley Publishing, 2020.)  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Liverpool_Murders_and_Misdemeanours/i-bRDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
    Seyd, Richard. Record of failures and liquidations in the financial, international, wholesale and manufacturing branches of commerce… (London: Seyd and Co., 1885). P. 445. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Record_of_failures_and_liquidations_in_t/_ZQNAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=thomas%20cregeen%20williams
    “Skeleton in Cylinder.” Old Mersey Times. 2016. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/skeletoncylinder.html
    Slemen, Thomas. Strange But True: Mysterious and Bizarre People. (United States, Barnes & Noble, 1999.) https://www.google.com/books/edition/Strange_But_True/uOXjAX0vzU0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=cregeen
    Whittington-Egan, Richard. Liverpool Colonnade. (London: Philip, Son & Nephew). 1955. https://archive.org/details/liverpoolcolonna0000rich/page/n7/mode/2up?q=thomas+cregeen+williams
    ...For a complete list see oldbloodpodcast.com


    Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 46 min
    Wicked Creature: Murder on Cherry Hill

    Wicked Creature: Murder on Cherry Hill

    A daughter of the New York elite is accused of orchestrating her husband’s murder after he was shot through a second-story window at the historic Cherry Hill estate. The resulting trial culminated in the state’s last public hanging in 1827.


    Sources:
    Please visit oldbloodpodcast.com for a complete list of our sources.



    Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 54 min
    Bravo: Poison at the Priory

    Bravo: Poison at the Priory

    The 30-year-old barrister Charles Bravo died after an excruciating three-day battle with poison. The case was doused in clues, a fact that detectives hoped would aid in their quest for justice, but only hindered it. The list of suspects grew, and investigators struggled to cross names off their lists for good. The problem was that there were far too many people with reasons to poison the man. 
    It's a classic whodunnit.
    Who killed Charles Bravo? 


    Sources:
    “A Mysterious Death in Balham: Charles Bravo and the Housemaid.” London Overlooked: Stories from the Old Smoke. https://london-overlooked.com/charles-bravo/
    Bridges, Yseult. How Charles Bravo Died (London: The Reprint Society, 1957).
    Ruddick, James. Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England (New York: Grove Press, 2001). 
    Trevedi, Chriag. “Victorian Whodunnit Solved.” BBC News Online. 13 January, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2650651.stm


    Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 1 hr 10 min
    What Hast Thou Done?: The Ala Moana Five

    What Hast Thou Done?: The Ala Moana Five

    The 1931 Massie Affair ended in a lynching that shocked the world and a murder trial that threatened the Hawaiian Islands. 
    This is Part II of  "What Hast Thou Done." For Part I, listen to Episode 33.


    Sources:
    Black, Cobey. Hawaii Scandal (Waipahu: Island Heritage, 2002).
    Creel, H. G. Hawaii: An International Crime (Girard: Appeal to Reason, 1915).
    Hannon, Michael. “The Massie Case Territory of Hawaii v. Ahakuelo, et. al. (1931) Territory of Hawaii v. Grace Fortescue, et. al (1932).” University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/trialpdfs/MASSIE_CASE.pdf
    “A Sailor Confesses to Old Hawaii Killing.” Life Magazine. October 7, 1966. P. 39 
    Leong, Lavonne. “The Crime That Changed the Islands.” Honolulu Magazine. March 8, 2010. https://www.honolulumagazine.com/the-crime-that-changed-the-islands/ 

    Linder, Douglas O. “The Massie Trials: An Account.” UMKC School of Law. https://www.famous-trials.com/massie/308-commentary
    “Massie Case - 1932” The Clarence Darrow Digital Collection. University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow2/trialsid=5.html#top
    “THE NAVY AND THE Massie-Kahahawai Case: THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK! (Honolulu: Honolulu Record Publishing Co. Ltd.)
    Stannard, David E., Honor Killing: How the Infamous ‘Massie Affair’ Transformed Hawai'i (New York: Penguin, 2006). And “The Massie Case: Injustice and Courage.” The Honolulu Advertiser. October 14, 2001. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/14/op/op03a.html
    “American Experience: The Island Murder.” PBS. 2005. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/island-murder/



    Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com


    For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

    • 1 hr 12 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
10 Ratings

10 Ratings

ntdwwira ,

History and true crime

History and true crime come together in this well researched podcast. Excited to add it to my podcast repertoire.

roxyzeve ,

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DebArdis1 ,

Just what I was looking for

First of all: I love Elise’s voice and sense of humor. The material is well explained and very interesting. I looked for a podcast that would cover old (real old) true crime and this one is the only one I found told in a interesting and straight to the story manner. I get annoyed by story tellers that get opinions and everyday blah-blah-blah mixed with the case’s fact and relevance. Elise does none of that. I highly recommend this podcast. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Top Podcasts In History

Slate Podcasts
Wondery
WNYC Studios
Wondery
Goalhanger Podcasts
Sarah Marshall

You Might Also Like

oldtimeycrimey
Obsessed Network
Erica Kelley
Casefile Presents
Exactly Right
NBC News