RedHanded the podcast jumps head first into all manner of macabre madness. We cover everything from big time serial killers (and those you may never have heard of), to hauntings, possessions, disturbing mysteries, bizarre whodunits and basically anything that tickles our creepy fancy. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares.
Episodes
ShortHand: Foreign Accent Syndrome
Imagine waking up one day and suddenly speaking with a French, Japanese or Jamaican accent. That’s what happens to sufferers of an extremely rare – but very real – brain disorder known as Foreign Accent Syndrome.So what’s going on? Well, while it makes for intensely shareable content, it’s no picnic. But also, if you dig into the science, it tells us all sorts of amazing things about how the brai
Caleb Flynn - Part 1: The Murder of Ashley Flynn | #475
When the wife of former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn was shot twice in the head at close range – while her two daughters slept just metres down the hallway – Caleb blamed an intruder.What he didn’t reveal (at least at first) was his affair with the significantly younger Alleigha Botner, who he’d met at church. Or, how dependent he was on Ashley’s father’s family business. But none of that
ShortHand: Centralia – The Real Silent Hill
A fire has been raging under the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, for more than 60 years – and it’s nowhere near done.After the vast underground coal deposits under the former mining town caught alight, sinkholes in the road opened up into flaming pits, billowing thick smoke through town. Toxic fumes seeped up through the floorboards and poisoned people in their homes. And in the town’s cemeterie
ShortHand: Werewolves
Recorded under a full moon, RedHanded’s guide to all things lycanthropic tells the whole hairy story: from Ancient Greek tales of curses, through the gruesome wolf trials of the Middle Ages, all the way through to whatever yassified teen-heartthrob vibe we’ve got going on nowadays. --Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / Instagram
Halloween Special Part 2: Nicaraguan Jungle Exorcism & Japan’s ‘Little Girl Killer’ | #474
Welcome to part two of our annual Halloween story-swap, where we take turns to try and freak each other out... with the very worst stories we can unearth.This week, Hannah has the horrific true story of Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japan’s infamous ‘Little Girl Killer’ whose incel-adjacent muder spree took the lives of four young girls. Then, Suruthi tells us the terrible true tale of Vilma Trujillo, a 25-y
ShortHand: Big Witch Special Part 3 - The Witches Take America
At first, stories of European witch-panics were nothing more than idle gossip to the settlers of New England. But soon – faced with inexplicable blights, punishing winters, and stories of people carried off into the night by indigenous tribes – suspicions of black magic became very real indeed...Picking up where we left off in Europe, H&S explore how the madness of the witch-hunting craze mad
ShortHand: Big Witch Special Part 2 - Hunting Witches in Britain
In Part 2 of our special spooky series on all things witchy, we take a look at how the hag-hunting insanity spread to the British Isles: thanks to a paranoid new king and a 19-year-old, self-styled Witchfinder General.Plus: what really goes down at a witches’ sabbath, and why did women make up 90% of the thousands killed?--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video Episodes
Halloween Special Part 1: Nigeria’s House of Horrors & The Real Life ‘Candyman’ | #473
With Halloween fast approaching, it’s time for our annual tradition at RedHanded: a classic spooky story swap. In this first spine-tingling episode, Suruthi takes us into the forest of Ibadan, Nigeria, to a real-life house of horrors where black magic rituals and sinister government secrets collide. Meanwhile, Hannah tells the terrifying story of Ruthie Mae McCoy and the real life Candyman – prov
ShortHand: Big Witch Special Part 1 - The European Witch Craze
Believed for over a thousand years to be local soothsayers who used their powers for everyday charms and spells, European witches' PR machine finally turned against them in the 16th and 17th centuries: when the continent suddenly became gripped by the idea that they weren't so wholesome after all...In fact, they might just be part of a demonic army on a mission to cloud the whole world in evil.Fo
FROM THE VAULT - David Fuller: Monster in the Morgue | #369
Since it's October, we're revisiting one of the most sickening, spine-chilling cases we've ever covered on RedHanded...The horrifying case of David Fuller: the so-called Monster in the Morgue. At first, police thought they were only looking for a double murderer.Nicknamed the ‘Bedsit Killer’ in the press, the suspect’s reputation for savage violence already loomed large in the town of Tunbridge W
ShortHand: Hell
Boiled in blood, hacked at by knives, torn apart by iron dogs… the world’s religions differ on what exactly might await sinners in the afterlife. But one thing they can all agree on is that if you were naughty on Earth, you are in for one hell of a horrible time.We take a quick tour of history’s grimmest netherzones: from freezing poison rain in the Norse Helheim, to a river of excrement, where m
The Murder of Sydney Loofe: Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell | #472
Cursing the courtroom and then slashing his own throat with a contraband shiv, Aubrey Trail had lived up to his promise, turning the trial of Bailey Boswell and himself into a complete circus. Although the pair’s bizarre relationship, full of kinks, vampires and witches, had already seen to that.Boswell and Trail had murdered 24-year-old Sydney Loofe six months previously before dismembering her
Introducing Serial Killers & Murderous Minds: Liz Golyar: Obsession, Stalking, and Murder
Today we're sharing an episode from the true crime podcast Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, hosted by Vanessa Richardson and forensic psychologist Dr. Tristin Engels. Each episode, Vanessa and Dr. Engels take you deep into the psychology of history’s most chilling murderers. They blend gripping true crime storytelling, with expert analysis to uncover what drives people to kill.In this episod
ShortHand: The Conjuring
In 2013, horror blockbuster The Conjuring packed out cinemas worldwide, terrifying moviegoers with its alleged ‘true story’ of a house haunted by malevolent demons. But the real truth behind the tale is far sketchier than we might think – with marital discord, pissed-off neighbours, and a ghost-busting power couple spearheading a very unfair smear campaign against a 19th century farmer’s wife. Th
FROM THE VAULT - Babis Anagnostopoulos: The Fitbit Killer | #389
With the release of the Amazon Prime documentary about the murder of Caroline Crouch, we're reaching into the vault to bring you H&S' coverage of this tragic case. When the body of 19-year-old Caroline Crouch was found in her attic room after an apparent home invasion – with her 11-month-old daughter crying next to her, and her puppy hanging from the bannister – the nation of Greece mourned w
ShortHand: Exorcisms Around the World
Vanquishing demons lingering in a tainted soul might sound like a very Christian idea – but exorcisms are prevalent in almost every culture across the globe. From ancient China to modern Islam, there are hundreds of ways to free someone from the grips of an evil spirit. This week Hannah and Suruthi run down a few of the most interesting – and discuss why, before modern medicine, possession seemed
The Vietnamese Gore Butcher | #471
When videos of a gruesome beheading and dismemberment surfaced on gore-fetish websites across Vietnam in 2025, the internet was shaken to its core. Not because it was the first time anyone had seen disturbing videos online. But because this time, the victim seemed to have been actively involved in planning his own murder.But is it less of a crime if you have the victim’s consent? And could this b
ShortHand: Papua New Guinea's Black Magic Murders
Black magic, or ‘Sanguma’, is often used to explain everything from minor illnesses to sudden deaths in Papua New Guinea. Horrifyingly, it’s also behind the recent rise of brutal witch hunts sweeping the nation. An epidemic of violence in which, predominantly, women and girls are being publicly tortured and murdered.Why? Find out on this week’s ShortHand.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYo
ShortHand: Vlad the Impaler - The Real Dracula
To round launch our month of spooky eps, our Halloween ShortHand covers the life and afterlife of one of the most sinister, blood-thirstiest bastards in all of human history: Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Vlad Dracula.We dig into the legends surrounding the savage ruler – including an al fresco lunch among hundreds of thousands of twitching, impaled enemies – and see how they tie into the
The Witches of Guaratuba: Black Magic, Child Sacrifice and a Deadly Plot | #470
In the early 1990s, the beach town of Guaratuba, Brazil had its very own witch hunt.It started with the mutilated body of a seven-year-old boy: Evandro Ramos Caetano... And it would end with a coven of accused ‘black magic’ practitioners – including the mayor’s own wife and daughter – sentenced to decades behind bars for alleged child sacrifice rituals.But as shocking claims emerged of political
ShortHand: Eric Gill - British Art’s Darkest Secret
From the BBC and Westminster Cathedral to Penguin paperbacks, typeface creator Eric Gill was once lauded as the eccentric genius behind some of Britain’s most iconic visual landmarks. But behind the scenes, he was also a sex-mad monster who shamelessly abused his own daughters within the rural Catholic artisanal communes where he lived and worked…And the art world covered it all up for decades. T
ShortHand: Should We Support Paedophile Catchers?
To some paedophile catchers like Chris Hansen are online superheroes, protecting children and putting predators behind bars. To others they're vigilantes who enforce their own form of justice while putting people in danger. But do they have a place in the system? This week Hannah and Suruthi are jumping into the murky waters of self styled sting operations, hidden cameras, and entrapment to find
The Murder of Rebecca Park - Part Two: The Investigation | #469
Fetal abduction is incredibly rare, so it’s no surprise that it wasn’t top of the list of possible motives when a heavily pregnant 22-year-old Rebecca Park first went missing. Yet when looking back over the countless livestreams and interviews given by Rebecca’s biological mother, Cortney Bartholomew, along with Bartholomew’s husband, Bradley, the pieces quickly fall into place — a mother jealous
ShortHand: Deadly Beauty Practices
From Belladonna eye drops to literally eating arsenic, human vanity has taken us to some pretty dark places in our quest to look drop dead gorgeous…But would you risk your life for the perfect makeover?In this week’s ShortHand, we’re looking at the toxic history of beauty hacks – and trust us, you do not wanna try these at home.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video E
ShortHand: Princess Anne’s Kidnap Chaos
This week, we’re taking you back to 1974 for a rollocking royal story that The Crown won’t tell you - the time a young Princess Anne was almost kidnapped by a gun-toting loner outside Buckingham Palace, in a shower of bullets and stiff upper lips.The Anne-cident changed royal security protocols forever. But would The Firm be changing their ways? Not bloody likely.Featuring an ex-boxer vigilante,
The Murder of Rebecca Park - Part One: Cortney Bartholomew | #468
Families are complicated, but when Rebecca Park went missing while heavily pregnant with the child of her mother’s ex-boyfriend, it raised eyebrows. Rebecca disappeared on the 3rd November 2025 after going to visit her biological mother Cortney Batholomew. In the weeks and months that followed a web of lies, inheritance and manipulation bubbled to the surface through Facebook livestreams and cryp
ShortHand: The Black Death
In just seven years, the bubonic plague killed half of all Europeans – more than 50 million people. We look at its surprising origins on the Mongolian battlefield (where diseased bodies were literally catapulted at the enemy); its unstoppable spread through a terrified Europe; and how it turned cultural, religious and social life in the 14th century completely upside down.--Patreon - Ad-free &
ShortHand: Julian Assange
When Julian Assange created WikiLeaks in 2006, it was the aim of rooting out corruption and improving transparency. And its successes were unprecedented, exposing hard-kept, dirty secrets from the very highest levels of power.But somewhere along the way, something happened. And whether it was Assange’s ego that brought him down – or the institutions he had so royally pissed off – isn’t totally cl
Lindsay Clancy - Part 2: The Trial | #467
Did Lindsay Clancy kill her children? Despite what was portrayed online, this was not the question at the heart of a trial which has gripped a nation. Both the defence and the prosecution agreed, that tragically, the 36-year-old was indeed the the person who took the lives of the Clancy Children. The question was why? Was Lindsay Clancy insane and did that lead to a momentary lapse of control in
ShortHand: Joan of Arc
Jeanne D’Arc – the teenage girl guided by saintly voices to command actual French armies into actual military victories – is one of history’s best-known names. Not bad for a 13-year-old.But that's not all. This week, we take a speedy look through the bloody, Game-of-Thrones-topping madness that is the Hundred Years’ War, meet a mad king that’s convinced he’s made of glass, and find out how one gi
ShortHand: Hikikomori - Japan’s Modern Day Hermits
Societal recluses exist in every culture. But in Japan, the number of permanent shut-ins has risen to incredible levels. There are estimated to be around one million Hikikomori, or ‘modern-day hermits’, in Japan today, and the term has even been proposed to be included in the DSM-5.So what is it about Japanese culture that causes so many young men to never leave the house? Press play to join us i
Lindsay Clancy - Part 1: The Killing of the Clancy Children | #466
According to her husband Patrick, Lindsay Clancy was found laying on the ground, semi-conscious, having cut her neck and wrists, and thrown herself from a second story window in an apparent attempt to take her own life. Just minutes later, Patrick found all three of their young children barely clinging to life in the basement. They had been strangled at the hands of their own mother. None of the
ShortHand: The World's Forbidden Places
Ever thought about exploring the places on this mysterious planet where your passport won’t take you?Join for a whistlestop tour of the world’s most off-limits destinations – from radioactive wastelands to snake-infested islands, and the odd plague pit in between.Just don’t blame us if anything goes wrong…--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / Instagr
Real People. Real Crimes. | Introducing CRIMES OF REDDIT
Reddit is an endless archive of humanity’s most disturbing, bizarre, and deeply human stories. If you love going down internet rabbit holes, you are going to love CRIMES OF REDDIT with Alexis Linkletter and Sabrina Deana-Roga.Every Tuesday, one host brings a set of true-crime stories while the other reacts in real time with no prep, no spoilers asking the questions on everyone’s mind. They pull a
ShortHand: Akhenaten - The Heretical Forgotten Pharaoh
More people know about the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten today than knew about him just 100 years after his death. But Akhentaten was no average ruler. He fundamentally changed religious worship forever, and may even have started Judaism itself. So why did he disappear from history? Was he simply forgotten to the sands of time – or did he fly too close to the ‘Aten’?--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus E
Louisiana: Axe Murders, Outlaws & Legends (ft. National Park After Dark) | #465
This week, RedHanded is joined by Cassie and Danielle from National Park After Dark for an exploration of the myths, outlaws and bloody history of Louisiana.First up: legendary “land pirate” John Murrell, the mysterious Leather Britches Smith, and the stories lurking along Louisiana’s Myths and Legends Byway.Then: between 1910 and 1912, several entire families were slaughtered with axes across Lo
ShortHand: E-Pimping – Exploitation & Abuse on OnlyFans
At first, OnlyFans seemed like a shiny new frontier for safer sex work – a platform that promised unprecedented financial autonomy for its creators. But wherever there’s sex work, there will inevitably be men who try to profit off it…And through the manosphere’s lingo of online hustle culture and misogyny, a new breed of so-called “OnlyFans managers” emerged to claim their piece of the digital-se
ShortHand: Dahvie Vanity – Juggalo Enemy #1
In 2007, child protection officers in Pinella County, Florida, spoke with a 14-year-old girl who’d been sexually assaulted by a musician she’d met on MySpace. But thanks to their failed investigation, more than 20 preteen fans would suffer the same fate.Dahvie Vanity, frontman of scene kid band Blood On The Dance Floor, spent over a decade using social media to prey on his band’s enormous preteen
The Hart Family Murders | #464
In 2018, married couple Jen and Sarah Hart accelerated their SUV over the edge of a 100ft cliff in Mendocino County, California… with their six Black adopted children in the back. The world was left in total shock. Jen and Sarah had seemed like model parents: social justice-loving lesbians who’d bravely taken in six Black children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and – according to Jen’s gushing F
ShortHand: The Great Stink
Remember the time London was overcome by a stench so foul that it shut down Parliament, and convinced terrified city-dwellers that the end was surely near?No? Well let us remind you of the grim summer of 1858: otherwise known as The Great Stink.The crisis brought about a long overdue transformation of the city’s sanitation system that formed the basis for the sewers we still use today – so thanks
Introducing “The Poet” from The Binge
Today, catch the first episode of The Poet, a new six-part true crime series from The Binge. Hosted by journalist Rachel Browne, The Poet is an investigation that drops you into Wichita, Kansas in 1977, where a woman named Ruth Finley is receiving threatening, obsessive poems from an unknown stalker – at the exact same time police are trying to track down the notorious serial killer known as BTK.
ShortHand: Gladiators
Watching slaves being ritually hacked to pieces may not seem like many people’s idea of a great day out. But 2,000 years ago, Romans turned up in their thousands to watch exactly that. So, with Gladiator back on our screens, we set out to find the truth behind the spectacle – and it’s even bloodier than the movies could ever allow.So what exactly happened in the gladiatorial games? Were there rea
The Golden State Killer - Part 4: Joseph James DeAngelo | #463
Joseph James DeAngelo is a burglar, a killer, and a rapist. A vile man with a proclivity for terrorising and sexually violating women. But that wasn’t everyone’s perception of the elderly man who was arrested in the yard of his suburban Sacramento home. To his daughters he was a loving father, to his employers he’d been a reliable worker, and to the wider community he was just another sleepy old
ShortHand: Cannibalism
What could drive a person to eat another human being? Well, as it turns out, humankind has actually been surprisingly open to a little cannibalistic carpaccio.From funeral traditions where families gather to gobble up their loved one as a mark of respect; to a European craze for drinking liquefied, mummified human brains (plus a surprising number of societies who just really liked the taste) – he
ShortHand: Cursed Films
For almost as long as we’ve made films, we’ve made horror films – but what happens when the terror isn’t just on screen? Movie-making lore is riddled with stories of bizarre accidents on set, creepy coincidences and even murders, all of which can give rise to cult followings and, in some cases, rumours of a curse over the whole production. From Indian ghosts to demonic hauntings, we run through a
The Golden State Killer - Part 3: The Dark Arts of DNA Databases | #462
To find the most prolific and violent serial rapist and killer the state of California had ever seen, took over fifty years, and some ethically questionable methods. Public DNA databases were trawled without their users consent, samples were entered under false pretences, and hundreds if not thousands of people had their rights violated. But, they did eventually catch their man, and walk him up t
ShortHand: Kapustin Yar – Russia's Area 51
For decades, the Soviet Union’s top-secret testing site Kapustin Yar didn’t appear on any maps. It was so top-secret, the government relocated an entire town just to make sure none of its residents ever discovered it.But in the aftermath of the Cold War, stories began to emerge about what the Soviets had really been up to in that remote, arid stretch of land in southern Russia…From rumours of cra
UPDATE: Will Bryan Kohberger Actually Get A Trial?
Bryan Kohberger is now claiming his innocence in the Idaho Student Murders. And he wants a trial to prove it. A year after admitting to the horrific murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Gonçalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin back in November 2019, Bryan Kohberger has done yet another U-turn by seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. In a petition claiming his lawyers faile
ShortHand: Roanoke
When 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children disappeared without a trace – leaving behind nothing but a single cryptic word carved into a tree – it began a mystery that’s lasted centuries.From bloody battles with Native American tribes to Elizabeth I’s private pirates – we get to the bottom of the disappearing colonists of Roanoke Island.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Vid
The Golden State Killer - Part 2: I’ll Be Gone In the Dark | #461
Michelle Eileen McNamara dedicated her life to closing the net on the man she called “The Golden State Killer’. A man whose prolific spree of violent home invasions, rapes, and murders was so large and covered such a vast geographical area several law enforcement agencies failed to realise it was all one man.Join us in part 2 of our 3 part series on The Golden State Killer, as we discuss how Mich
ShortHand: The Bling Ring
What happens when a group of fame-obsessed teens with a passion for fashion go for a shopping spree in their favourite stars’ wardrobes?You get the Bling Ring: the unlikely architects behind a string of burglaries in the Hollywood Hills in the mid-2000s, targeting celebs from Paris Hilton to Orlando Bloom…Until those Ugg-booted cat burglars finally ran out of lives. Behind the TMZ headlines lay a
ShortHand: Lili’uokalani - The Last Queen of Hawai’i
America the beautiful: from sea to shining sea! (...Plus a bunch of random islands 2,000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean.)The story of why these seven Polynesian islands became part of the US of A is a wild one, taking in a slew of sweet-toothed sugar barons, a pinch of rampant colonialism, and one heroine who refused to let her culture die. When a white militia surrounded the palace of Queen Lil
The Golden State Killer - Part 1: A Horror Beyond Belief | #460
The Golden State Killer, The Easter Area Rapist, The Visalia Ransacker, and The Original Night Stalker. All pseudonyms for a man who committed one of the largest and most prolific sprees of home invasions, rapes, and murders, in American history.For over ten years one man held a vice like terror across the entire state of California, committing over 120 burglaries, at least 51 rape and 10 murders
ShortHand: Alcatraz – Escape from Devil's Island
When the night guards passed Frank Morris’s cell, in San Francisco’s “inescapable” island super-prison, Alcatraz, he seemed to be sleeping soundly. But what they saw was a dummy head made of plaster, soap and real human hair. And Morris was already making his way to the shore – and his homemade raft, stitched together using 50 prison raincoats.This week we look at the history of the US’s big bad
FROM THE VAULT - Richard Chase: The Vampire of Sacramento - Parts 1&2
As part of our virtual road trip around North America inspired by the 2026 World Cup, we're revisiting some of our most classic cases. This week we stop off in
Sacramento, to revisit on of the single most disturbing individuals we have ever covered Richard Chase - The Vampire of Sacramento.
Clinical vampirism, terrifying delusions and paranoid schizophrenia. This week the girls enter the bloody w
ShortHand: The Space Race
The idea of human beings floating in space used to feel as likely as time travel. But after WWII, the world’s two strongest superpowers had to find a way of outdoing each other that didn’t involve the total eradication of the human race. So they decided to race to the stars instead.Here’s how that ideological moonshot became a reality.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length
Juana Barraza: Mexico's Notorious 'Little Old Lady Killer' | #459
When elderly women started being murdered around Mexico City in the early 2000s, it sparked the nation’s first ever serial killer manhunt…But the fearsome monster targeting the city’s beloved grandmas? She was actually (gasp!) a woman. The search for the so-called “Mataviejitas” – The Little Old Lady Killer – was hampered by media hysteria, clueless (and maybe corrupt) coppers, and one gigantic m
ShortHand: Cajun Cryptids
Louisiana has more than its fair share of real monsters hiding in its deep, dark bayous. So, settlers’ nightmares about what else was hiding there – spiced up with African folk beliefs, plus Cajun and Creole folklore and a dash of Haitian voudou – quickly became a rogues’ gallery of gruesome monsters that couldn’t exist anywhere else.From a grim scaly monster, born in a voodoo ritual from the dev
FROM THE VAULT - The Staircase: Michael Peterson - Parts 1&2
As part of our virtual road trip around North America inspired by the 2026 World Cup, we're revisiting some of our most classic cases. This week we stop off in North Carolina, to revisit the infamous staircase of Michael & Kathleen Peterson...From the outside the Petersons had it all; the perfect family, a beautiful mansion and more money than they could spend. But on 9th December 2001 all th
ShortHand: The Men Who Stare at Goats & The Psychic Arms Race
If someone told you they could read your mind, levitate, walk through walls, or make your heart explode in your chest, you’d probably say they were crazy.But for over 30 years, the US government spent tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money attempting to create psychic super soldiers of the future, with all those skills and more. This is the ShortHand on Jim Channon, and the First Earth Bat
Robert ‘Willie’ Pickton – Part 2: Canada’s Most Evil Murderer | #458
After the search of Vancouver’s missing women finally brought them to the gates of Robert ‘Willie’ Pickton’s grisly pig farm, Canadian police faced the gigantic task of bringing the country’s most prolific serial killer to justice. But with much of the evidence literally eaten by the pigs, how much would be left to piece together this puzzle? And even long after the cell doors clanged shut on old
ShortHand: The Real Pocahontas
Long before the ‘90s cartoon version painted with all the colours of the wind, a real Native American woman named Pocahontas inspired a romantic tale that would endure for centuries…But how much of her story is fact – and how much is a convenient colonial fiction?Featuring gold-hunting colonists, grisly cannibalism and more than a splash of imperialist violence, let’s just say the true story isn’
FROM THE VAULT - Lizzie Borden: High-Society Hatchet Homicide | #384
As part of our virtual road trip around North America inspired by the 2026 World Cup, we're revisiting some of our most classic cases – with a stop in Massachusetts sparking spooky memories of our visit to the Lizzie Borden house...The brutal hatchet murders of Andrew and Abby Borden are still among the most infamous and hotly debated cases in true-crime history.Truly springing from the pages of
ShortHand: What If Yellowstone Erupted?
Any moment now, we might experience an explosion that emits the power of 1,000 atomic bombs every second. An explosion so fierce that it would reduce the world’s most powerful country to an ash-covered wasteland – and, if it was feeling particularly gnarly, could lead to the extinction of the entire human race.This week we take a look at just how royally f***ed we’d be if the world’s largest abov
Robert ‘Willie’ Pickton – Part 1: The Pig Farm Killer | #457
For years, women were vanishing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside…But the police refused to admit it.In the first of a two-parter on the grisly crimes of Robert ‘Willie’ Pickton, we uncover the investigation into the missing women, the community whose cries for help went unheard, and the systemic failures that kept the authorities from discovering what was really going on at the pig farm from he
ShortHand: Spontaneous Human Combustion
People who seem to have suddenly burst into flames – leaving just a pile of ash, a foot or skull, and a puddle of strange grease – have left biologists and police stumped for hundreds of years. And as recently as 2010, a medical examiner in the UK was forced to write ‘spontaneous combustion’ on a real death certificate.But there are some very strong scientific theories, and they are… unpleasant.
ShortHand: Tutankhamun's Curse
The gold-lined, intact tomb of Tutankhamun is without a doubt the most important archaeological discovery in Egypt's history. But what if Tutankhamun, the teenage God King, took something in return? After the young Pharaoh was found, several people connected to his discovery died in “mysterious circumstances”, including the man who had financed the whole operation. Was this King Tut’s price for g
Royal Scandal: The Murder that Shocked Buckingham Palace | #456
Tom Cressman’s brutal murder – beaten with a cricket bat by the ex-royal dresser to Sarah Ferguson, the ex-Dutchess of York – was a truly British tragedy.Jane Andrews’s act of violence dominated the headlines in the UK, and for good reason. The obsessive social climber had spent a lifetime getting herself into rooms with some of the richest and most influential people in the country. All she had
ShortHand: How To Live to 100
Reliably living to 100 years old – a once unthinkable goal – is slowly creeping closer to becoming a reality. But there’s a catch: we’re still not entirely sure how it works…On the one hand, a healthy, stress-free, and activity-rich lifestyle (with a bit of actually-rich thrown in for good measure) does seem to have a legitimate effect on your mortality. However, some people seem to be able to ri
ShortHand: So You’ve Fallen Out of a Plane…
You’re free falling towards the ground at 120mph, and below you all you can see is an expanse of open wilderness. What are you going to do? Had you not listened to this ShortHand, you’d most likely panic and die. Luckily for you though, we’ve decided to give you a comprehensive (without assuming any legal responsibility) guide to what to do if you find yourself in a spot of bother.From the best w
Barbara Daly Baekeland: Maternal Incest & Murder | #455
They say money can’t buy happiness…And that certainly proved true in 1972, when Tony Baekeland – heir to the Bakelite plastic dynasty – plunged a knife into his mother Barbara’s heart in their London penthouse.But behind the lurid headlines lay a trail of dysfunctional family secrets, taboo mother-son incest and twisted DIY conversion therapy: all washed down by a toxic cocktail of wealth and exc
ShortHand: The Church of Kardashian
From crypto scams to ‘diet tea’, intellectual property fraud and everything in between, clan Kardashian has set the blueprint for turning followers and influence into cold, hard cash.This is the run down on how Kim, Kylie, Kris and the rest of the gang have put their fame to work – and how a small “community church” in Los Angeles allows them to keep their finances well behind closed doors...--Pa
ShortHand: The Men Who Stare at Goats & the Psychic Arms Race
If someone told you they could read your mind, levitate, walk through walls, or make your heart explode in your chest, you’d probably either say they were crazy or wait to hear the punchline, and you’d be right to do so.But for over 30 years, the US government spent tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money attempting to create psychic super soldiers of the future, with all those skills and m
The Pulse Nightclub Shooting | #454
When Omar Mateen stepped into Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and fired into the crowd, 10 years ago this week, it was the start of three hours of unimaginable terror for the city’s gay community. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. The FBI rushed to explain it. The media searched for answers.But as investigators uncovered Mateen’s history, the picture only got more complicated. There were zero c
ShortHand: The Princes in the Tower
Back in 1483, two young princes mysteriously vanished from the Tower of London…And more than 500 years later, we’re still arguing about what happened to them. Were Edward V and his little brother Richard murdered on the orders of their dastardly uncle, Richard III? Or did they secretly survive – becoming pretenders to the throne amid the bloody War of the Roses?From Tudor propaganda to academic s
FROM THE VAULT - The Murder of Rachel Nickell | #285
Netflix's new drama 'The Witness' and documentary 'The Murder of Rachel Nickell' have brought Rachel Nickell's case back into public attention. For the true story behind the murder that rocked the UK, we've resurfaced our episode from February 2023.--Rachel Nickell’s brutalised body was found on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alex wiping her bloodied face and begging her to 'wake up'.
ShortHand: The Secrets of Göbekli Tepe
The 1994 excavation of curious buried ruins in southeastern Turkey might have chucked a big rock through the window of archaeological history – shattering everything we thought we knew about our ancient ancestors.With its intricate carvings, and towering megaliths built long before the wheel or even written language, Göbekli Tepe could rewrite the story of civilisation. But who built it? And why?
David “D4vd” Burke - Part Two: The Arrest & Trial | #453
Two chainsaws and a paddling pool; a very public relationship; along with a litany of texts and Discord messages, all pointing to one thing: David “D4vd” Burke killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez. In the eyes of the public, it was that simple.And yet, it took prosecutors seven months to arrest and charge Burke with Celeste Hernandez’s death, even after her body was found decomposing in his car. Why?--
ShortHand: The Death of Marilyn Monroe
Naked, clutching the telephone receiver, and with a stomach full of prescription meds, Marilyn Monroe was pronounced dead at 4:25am on the 5th of August 1962. Today, a century after her birth, the iconic “blonde bombshell” is still one of the most famous people who has ever lived. She epitomised Hollywood: the fame, the fortune, and the chaos. Rumours placed her in bed with two Kennedys – and und
ShortHand: The Ku Klux Klan
The KKK are the OG far-right trolls: one of the most evil groups in US history, and the best-known purveyors of white racism in the United States. They have been responsible for countless deaths and acts of discrimination – but where did it all begin? And what do wizards and dragons have to do with it? This is the ShortHand. --Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video Epis
