Yore Town

Beard Laws Studio, Bleav
  • 4.0 (5)
  • History
  • Updated Weekly

Yore Town Podcast is a true crime and dark history podcast uncovering real small-town mysteries, forgotten crimes, unexplained events, and buried history from places most people overlook. Each episode delivers deep-dive storytelling into true crime cases, unsolved disappearances, eerie local legends, historical cover-ups, and strange but 100% real stories that actually happened. No clickbait. No internet myths. Just well-researched, fact-checked episodes designed to keep you listening until the very end. From chilling murders and cold cases to strange historical moments and unsettling mysteries, Yore Town Podcast blends true crime podcast tension with immersive narrative storytelling. These are the kinds of stories you’d expect to hear late at night—except they’re real, and they happened closer to home than you think. Perfect for fans of: True crime podcasts Dark history podcasts Unsolved mysteries Small-town crime stories Long-form storytelling podcasts If you’re searching for a true crime podcast with real research, a dark history podcast, or a mystery podcast that focuses on small towns and forgotten places, this is it. Every town has a past. Some of them don’t want to be found. New episodes regularly on Spotify Real people. Real places. Real stories.

  1. 3d ago

    The Buffalo World's Fair Where a President Was Assassinated

    In 1901, Buffalo, New York, built a city that wasn't supposed to last. The Pan-American Exposition was a spectacular World's Fair designed to show millions of visitors what the new century could become. Enormous buildings surrounded illuminated fountains, hundreds of thousands of electric lights transformed the grounds after dark, and the power of nearby Niagara Falls helped create a spectacle unlike anything many Americans had ever experienced. Then the President of the United States walked into the Temple of Music. On September 6, 1901, William McKinley stood inside the exposition greeting members of the public. One man approached with a handkerchief wrapped around his right hand. McKinley apparently assumed the hand was injured and reached out to greet him. Hidden beneath the handkerchief was a revolver. Two shots changed American history. McKinley survived the initial shooting, and for several days it appeared that he might recover. The news became optimistic enough that Vice President Theodore Roosevelt eventually left Buffalo for the Adirondacks. Then McKinley's condition suddenly collapsed. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Meg uncover the incredible story of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, the assassination of President William McKinley, the medical battle to save his life, Theodore Roosevelt's frantic journey back to Buffalo, and the private home where a 42-year-old Roosevelt unexpectedly became the youngest person ever to assume the presidency. We also dig into the strange Robert Todd Lincoln connection, what happened to McKinley's assassin, how the assassination helped change presidential security, and the bizarre fate of the World's Fair itself. Because just weeks after one of the most important moments in American history unfolded there, Buffalo's spectacular temporary city began to disappear. The Temple of Music vanished. The Electric Tower vanished. Most of the exposition grounds were dismantled and eventually replaced by Buffalo neighborhoods. But not everything disappeared. More than a century later, Buffalo still holds pieces from both sides of the story: the place where one presidency ended and the home where another began. Yore Town explores the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. Big towns. Small towns. Big stories. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Buffalo World's Fair Where a President Was Assassinated

  2. Aug 31

    The Great Hinckley Fire: The Town That Couldn't Outrun the Flames

    On September 1, 1894, Hinckley, Minnesota was a booming lumber town surrounded by forests dried by months of drought and littered with highly combustible logging debris. By the next morning, much of the town was gone. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh revisit the Great Hinckley Fire and the terrifying hours when an ordinary Saturday became a fight for survival. As the firestorm closed in, residents had almost no warning and no reliable way of knowing which direction offered safety. Some climbed into wells and root cellars. Others fled toward rivers, swamps and a gravel pit. Hundreds raced toward the railroad. One evacuation train carrying roughly 400 refugees was forced to cross a bridge that was already burning. Minutes after the train made it across, the bridge collapsed. Another train picked up more than 300 people before being struck by an explosion and catching fire. Its crew somehow kept the burning train moving until reaching Skunk Lake — which turned out to be little more than a shallow marsh. Hundreds of survivors climbed into roughly 18 inches of muddy water and waited while the fire burned around them. By the time the disaster was over, Hinckley and surrounding communities had been devastated, hundreds of square miles had burned, and at least 418 people were dead. The true death toll may have been even higher. We also explore how Hinckley's lumber industry helped create the conditions for disaster, why seemingly sensible escape routes became deadly traps, the incredible role of the railroads, the aftermath of the fire, and how the catastrophe helped change Minnesota's approach to wildfire prevention. Episode Chapters 00:00 — The Horizon Is on Fire 02:28 — Hinckley Before the Disaster 07:17 — The Forest Becomes Fuel 09:42 — The Warning Everyone Got Used To 12:06 — A Firestorm Is Born 14:31 — Hinckley Starts Running 16:27 — Every Escape Could Kill You 18:43 — The Train and the Burning Bridge 20:58 — Trapped in 18 Inches of Water 22:54 — Hinckley Is Gone 25:20 — Burying the Dead 27:23 — How the Fire Changed Minnesota 29:27 — Would We Have Survived? 31:34 — Hinckley Comes Back More than 130 years later, Hinckley still exists. The town rebuilt after a disaster that took only hours to nearly erase it. Yore Town tells the strange, dark and unbelievable true stories of real places. If you enjoy forgotten disasters, strange history and unbelievable stories hiding in real towns, follow Yore Town so you don't miss the next episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Great Hinckley Fire: The Town That Couldn't Outrun the Flames

  3. Aug 24

    The Clymer Mine Disaster: 44 Men Went to Work and Never Came Home

    On the afternoon of August 26, 1926, 57 men were working underground at the Clymer No. 1 coal mine near the small Pennsylvania community of Clymer. At exactly 1:00 PM, the mine exploded. Five or six minutes later, it exploded again. The second blast ripped through the already-damaged underground workings, destroyed parts of the ventilation system and sent flame and coal dust more than 100 feet into the air. Outside, families ran toward the mine while rescue crews headed underground. Smoke, debris and poisonous gases repeatedly forced rescuers back, but amid the destruction came incredible stories of survival. One miner was forced to leave his own father behind after his father realized that trying to save him could kill them both. Another group crawled roughly a mile and a half through smoke and toxic gas, passing dead and dying coworkers as they searched for a way back to daylight. By the end of the disaster, 44 men were dead. Some families lost more than one loved one. In several homes around the community, two or even three coffins were placed together in the same front room. And somehow, the death toll could have been far worse. Clymer No. 1 normally employed hundreds of workers, but the mine was operating on reduced “slack time” that day. Only 57 men happened to be underground when the explosions occurred. Nearly a century later, the Clymer Mine Disaster has largely disappeared from American memory, but not from Clymer. A memorial outside the borough building still carries the names of the 44 men who never came home. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh travel back to August 26, 1926, to uncover what happened beneath Clymer, Pennsylvania, the miners who fought their way out, the families waiting above, and how one terrible afternoon changed a small coal town forever. Because the explosion happened underground. The disaster happened to the town. Yore Town Podcast The strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. New episodes weekly. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Clymer Mine Disaster: 44 Men Went to Work and Never Came Home

  4. Aug 17

    Lake Nyos: The Night a Lake Killed 1,700 People

    On the night of August 21, 1986, families living beneath Lake Nyos in Cameroon went to sleep with no reason to believe they were in danger. By morning, roughly 1,700 people were dead. There was no massive fire. No flood had swept through the villages. No lava had destroyed their homes. In many places, almost everything was still standing. The killer was the air itself. Lake Nyos had suddenly released an enormous amount of carbon dioxide stored deep beneath its surface. Invisible and heavier than the surrounding air, the gas traveled downhill into valleys and villages, displacing the oxygen people and animals needed to survive. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt digs into the unbelievable true story of the Lake Nyos disaster, including: • How a peaceful crater lake became a massive natural reservoir of carbon dioxide • What may have triggered the catastrophic release • Why victims had almost no warning and little chance to escape • The similar disaster that had occurred in Cameroon just two years earlier • How scientists discovered Lake Nyos was slowly becoming dangerous again • The remarkable degassing system designed to prevent another catastrophe • Why scientists still monitor Lake Nyos today • The mystery about August 21, 1986 that still hasn't been completely settled Forty years after the disaster, Lake Nyos is still there. It's still beautiful. And deep beneath its surface, carbon dioxide continues to enter the lake. That's what makes this story so unsettling. Yore Town explores the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. Follow Yore Town so you don't miss next week's story. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Lake Nyos: The Night a Lake Killed 1,700 People

  5. Aug 10

    Owensboro and America’s Last Public Execution

    On August 14, 1936, thousands of people arrived in Owensboro, Kentucky before sunrise. They came to watch a man die. Rainey Bethea's hanging would become known as the last fully public execution in American history. Estimates placed the crowd between 10,000 and 20,000 people, nearly the size of Owensboro itself at the beginning of the decade. But what happened that morning, and what America remembers happening, may not be exactly the same thing. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh uncover the murder of Lashia Edwards, the evidence that led authorities to Rainey Bethea, the strange legal distinction that allowed his execution to happen publicly, and Sheriff Florence Thompson, whose role turned the case into a national media sensation. Then came the crowd. Reporters described Owensboro as a carnival built around a man's death. Local residents and newspapers pushed back, arguing that the national press exaggerated the spectacle and unfairly branded their city. Ninety years later, the photographs remain, along with an uncomfortable question: Why did thousands of ordinary people want to watch? This is the story of Owensboro, Kentucky, the place where America held its last fully public execution and then stopped inviting the public to watch. Yore Town: The strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Owensboro and America’s Last Public Execution

  6. Aug 3

    Philadelphia’s Bellevue Hotel Gave a Killer Its Name

    In July 1976, thousands of American Legion veterans gathered at Philadelphia’s luxurious Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. They came to celebrate America’s bicentennial, reconnect with old friends, and attend their annual convention. Then they went home. Within days, previously healthy men began developing high fevers, confusion, breathing problems, and a severe form of pneumonia. Some died shortly after reaching the hospital. Others became sick despite never staying inside the hotel. As the death toll climbed, investigators searched for a connection. Was it contaminated food? Swine flu? Poisoning? Sabotage? Biological warfare? Or was something inside the Bellevue-Stratford spreading an invisible killer through the air? For months, every theory seemed to lead nowhere. Then CDC microbiologist Dr. Joseph McDade returned to evidence that had already been examined and discovered a previously unknown bacterium: Legionella pneumophila. The illness would become known around the world as Legionnaires’ disease. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh uncover: • The extraordinary history of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel • Why thousands of American Legion veterans gathered there in 1976 • How the mysterious outbreak spread across Pennsylvania • The theories that fueled fear and national panic • The scientist who finally identified the invisible killer • The suspected connection to the hotel’s cooling system • Evidence of an earlier outbreak inside the same hotel • What ultimately happened to the Bellevue-Stratford Yore Town uncovers the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. Follow Yore Town so you never miss a new episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Philadelphia’s Bellevue Hotel Gave a Killer Its Name

  7. Jul 27

    The Ottawa, Illinois Radium Girls: The Story That Changed Worker Safety

    Ottawa, Illinois Told Women to Lick Radioactive Paint At first glance, Ottawa, Illinois is a quiet river town with historic streets and small-town charm. But beneath that peaceful image lies the story of one of the most shocking industrial disasters in American history. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh explore the rise of the radium dial industry, the young women who were instructed to "lip, dip, paint" glowing watch dials, and the devastating health effects they unknowingly suffered after being exposed to radioactive paint. You'll hear the remarkable story of Katherine Donahue, whose determination helped expose the truth and forever changed the way occupational diseases were recognized in American workplaces. In this episode: Why radium was once considered a scientific miracle How watch dial painters were unknowingly poisoned The tragic reality of "radium jaw" Katherine Donahue's historic legal battle Why radioactive contamination remained in Ottawa for decades How this forgotten story changed worker safety laws in the United States If you enjoy forgotten history, small-town mysteries, and the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places, be sure to follow Yore Town for new episodes every week. Follow Yore Town New episodes every week featuring the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@YoreTownPodcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Ottawa, Illinois Radium Girls: The Story That Changed Worker Safety

  8. Jul 20

    New London: Why Gas Smells Like Rotten Eggs | Yore Town

    New London, Texas changed America forever—and most people have never heard why. New London: Why Gas Smells Like Rotten Eggs tells the true story behind the deadliest school disaster in American history. On March 18, 1937, nearly 300 students and teachers were killed when the London Consolidated School exploded without warning. There was no smell. No alarm. No chance to escape. Today, every time you smell natural gas in your home, you're experiencing a safety measure born from this tragedy. This episode explores how one routine decision, one invisible danger, and one devastating afternoon forever changed gas safety laws across the United States. Inside This Episode • The forgotten story of the New London School Explosion • Why natural gas once had no smell at all • The decision that unknowingly led to disaster • How nearly 300 lives changed American safety forever • The legacy that still protects millions of homes today Every town has a past. Yore Town uncovers the real stories, forgotten crimes, unbelievable disasters, local mysteries, and dark history that time tried to bury. If you love true crime history, forgotten American history, unsolved mysteries, abandoned places, and small-town stories you've never heard before, you're in the right place. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold Open 01:55 Why Gas Smells Today 06:40 Oil Changed Everything 13:20 Beneath the School 18:05 The Decision That Saved Money 22:40 March 18, 1937 25:10 The Explosion 27:30 Rescue Begins 30:15 America Changes Forever 34:20 The Legacy of New London Part of the Beard Laws Studio Network. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe and help us uncover the past. #YoreTown #TrueCrimeHistory #DarkHistory #ForgottenHistory #TexasHistory Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    New London: Why Gas Smells Like Rotten Eggs | Yore Town
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About

Yore Town Podcast is a true crime and dark history podcast uncovering real small-town mysteries, forgotten crimes, unexplained events, and buried history from places most people overlook. Each episode delivers deep-dive storytelling into true crime cases, unsolved disappearances, eerie local legends, historical cover-ups, and strange but 100% real stories that actually happened. No clickbait. No internet myths. Just well-researched, fact-checked episodes designed to keep you listening until the very end. From chilling murders and cold cases to strange historical moments and unsettling mysteries, Yore Town Podcast blends true crime podcast tension with immersive narrative storytelling. These are the kinds of stories you’d expect to hear late at night—except they’re real, and they happened closer to home than you think. Perfect for fans of: True crime podcasts Dark history podcasts Unsolved mysteries Small-town crime stories Long-form storytelling podcasts If you’re searching for a true crime podcast with real research, a dark history podcast, or a mystery podcast that focuses on small towns and forgotten places, this is it. Every town has a past. Some of them don’t want to be found. New episodes regularly on Spotify Real people. Real places. Real stories.

Information

  • Creator
    Beard Laws Studio, Bleav
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    180
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Beard Laws Studio
  • Show Website
    Yore Town