As Westward expansion began in the US after the Civil War, homesteaders staked land claims across the plains. One family set up a crude store and Inn along the trail, taking advantage of the location where many a weary traveler would pass by. But many of those travelers began to disappear after stopping at the Bender's place. What searchers found o…

Reverend George Washington Carawan was charged and found guilty of the murder of a school teacher named Clement H. Lassiter . After learning the jury had found him guilty and that he would be hanged for his crime, Reverend Carawan pulled a gun and shot the prosecutor and then himself. Male Narrator- Curtis Hildreth Music- Isaiah Hildreth Sources ne…

The seaside town of Brighton, England had a string of poisonings in the late 1870's. The victims became severely sick after eating chocolate cream candies from a local sweet shop owned by J. G. Maynard. Mr. Maynard rid his shop of the chocolate inventory, but townsfolk continued getting sick and one young boy died after eating a piece of the offend…

Alma Kellner born in 1901, was the daughter of wealthy brewers in Louisville, Kentucky.On December 8, 1909, Alma disappeared on her way to attend mass at St. John's Roman Catholic Church, not far from her home. At first it was believed she had been kidnapped but no ransom demands were ever made. Approximately six months from the time she went missi…

Before there were restraining orders and women's shelters galore, domestic violence victims often suffered for years in silence. This is the story of one woman and her final desperate attempt to save herself when she realized there was nowhere else to turn. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Sources: https://www.newspa…

Today's episode is about the life and crimes of Father Hans Schmidt. He was executed in 1916 for murder. Schmidt is the only priest ever to be executed in the United States. Music- Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator- Curtis Hildreth Sources newspapers.com murderpedia wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Schmidt_(priest)https://medium.com/lessons-…

On Mother's Day 1985, a young mother and her two little girls were found dead in their home near Ft. Bragg, NC. The youngest of her daughters was left alive, alone, crying, and dehydrated in her crib waiting for a rescue. The murders bore a striking resemblance to the 1970 killings at Ft. Bragg of the MacDonald family. Investigators had to figure o…

Martha McKay was found murdered on her family property in Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas. Her mother was found murdered on the same property twenty-four years earlier. . Travis Lewis was Martha's killer--the same person convicted in the murder of Martha's mother and cousin when he was just fifteen years old. This case is proof that sometimes lightening d…

In early 1970 Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald is awakened by the screams of his wife and daughters being attacked. He claims a group of drugged-up hippies were the intruders, but authorities quickly begin to question that claim. This conclusion to the MacDonald family murders delves into the alternative theories put forth by the defense and ends with where…

At the height of the hippie culture and "Satanic Panic" in the early 1970s, a gruesome murder is committed at Fort Bragg, NC. A pregnant mother and her two small daughters are repeatedly stabbed to death. Her husband, Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, is also injured but survives the attack. He is able to describe the four assailants who had killed his fa…

Belle Gunness also known as Hell's Princess was a pig farmer in the early 1900's. She posted help wanted and lonely hearts ads in newspapers--luring men to their deaths with promises of love and wealth. Music By Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Har…

On March 5, 1873, two women were found brutally axed to death on the secluded Smuttynose Island just off the coast of Maine. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator Curtis Hildreth Sources: Mystery on the Isles of Shoals: Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873 by J Dennis Robinson newspapers.com findagrave.com Fresh Hell Podcast foste…

Accident? Suicide? Or Murder? The question of "Z" Smith Reynolds' death is still not answered to this day more than ninety years later. The wealthy heir of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco fortune was shot on his sleeping porch after hosting his friend's 21st birthday party at his estate. The initial ruling was suicide. However, ballistic evidence cast susp…

On March 1, 1922, Tennessee sent four men ( under the age of twenty) to the electric chair to pay with their lives for the life they took. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com The Appalachian Storyteller wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Motor_Car knoxnews.com https://www.knoxnews.com/story/…

Georgia Tann was a social worker whose crimes spanned three decades from the 1920s to 1950. What appeared to be benevolence on her part was actually greed and downright evil that affected many families during those years. She led a secret life and was beyond scrutiny for most of those years. Sadly she was never brought to justice for her horrible d…

In 1914, Lowe Daniels lived in the Uwharrie forest. He made his living making and selling whiskey. One day he came home from a trip and out of nowhere, shot his wife, his wife's seventeen year old sister, his seventeen year old sister and a sixteen year old neighbor boy. After he'd finished his killing spree, Lowe took his banjo off the wall, sat b…

In 1966 a father in Georgia died suddenly from an apparent heart attack. He was just 39 years old. Just seven months later his 13-year-old son became sick suddenly and passed away within a short time. Mysterious deaths continued until people became suspicious of the true cause of so many deaths in one family. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Out…

A fire broke out around midnight on Christmas Eve in 1945 at the Sodder house in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Five of the Sodder family's ten children didn't make it outside with the rest of their family. George Sodder, their father tried desperately to save them but it was to no avail. At first everyone believed the children died in the fire. Howe…

During a snowstorm in early 1972, a Boone, NC family is shockingly murdered in their own home. At first, it appears to be a robbery gone bad, but upon further inspection, that theory does not seem to add up. It was a crime that went unsolved for fifty years. Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Intro and Outro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Episode Sponsor: The Table…

Lowell Lee Andrews was a bright university student, and beloved son of a Kansas farmer. On Thanksgiving day in 1958, he would shock his community by murdering his family in order to get his inheritance. Sources: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote murderpedia.com newspapers.com findagrave.com wikipedia Podcast- Fresh Hell Podcast- Once Apon a Crime http…

In the Spring of 1927, Reverend Tom 'Thunderbolt' Pardue traveled to the tobacco growing town of Reidsville, North Carolina to hold a revival in the big McCollum tobacco Warehouse. One night after the service, he was met by a beautiful young lady whose heart had been pricked by his message on the subject of confession. She had a confession to make.…

In 1981, Hollywood darling Natalie Wood invited friends to spend the after-Thanksgiving weekend with her and her husband Robert Wagner on their yacht Splendor. Most invitees declined due to bad weather but current co-star Christopher Walken joined them. The weekend was booze-filled leading to arguments among the three. Tragedy struck when Natalie d…

In 1892, in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, a wealthy older couple was axed to death in their own home in broad daylight. Almost immediately their thirty-two-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden, is suspected of the brutal murders. The tales surrounding this event are varied, and conspiracy theories abound. The whole gruesome crime is memorializ…

Countess Elizabeth Bathory is in The Guinness Book of World Records for being the most prolific serial killer in the western world. She is alleged to have killed more than 600 virgins in order to drink their blood and bathe in it, in order to preserve her youth. But who was Elizabeth Bathory really? Join us today as we untangle fact from fiction. S…

Beginning in 1983, a group of four nurse aides began a killing spree that lasted for over six years. It began with a "mercy killing" but soon escalated into murder. The mastermind of the group came up with horrendous methods of torture for troublesome patients and the total number of victims is estimated to possibly be in the hundreds. Narrator: Cu…

If you were a child of the 70's and 80's , did your parents ever check your Halloween candy for poison or razor blades? If so, rumors surrounding the story in today's episode might have had something to do with that. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator Curtis Hildreth Sources newspapers.com findagrave.com https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/the-man-…

On the night of November 20, 1901, Nell Cropsey vanished from her family's home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Thirty-seven days later her body was found floating in the Pasquotank River. There was only ever one real suspect but did authorities get it right? Sources: Music by: Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth newspapers.com Ella M…

When a house fire in Pleasant Garden, NC is determined to have been started by arson, and a resident is found inside dead from a gunshot, the sheriff's department has its work cut out for it. Friends, family, and fellow church members of Patricia Blakely Kimble begin to point fingers and demand answers. None can believe that anyone would want to hu…

In 1877, 47 year old Thurza Bowman died a violent death. An autopsy revealed she had been poisoned by strychnine. Suspicion would immediately fall on her husband. After many conflicting testimonies and two trials, Thomas Bowman was sentenced to hang in Asheboro, North Carolina in 1879. Did Thurza Bowman get justice or was her husband wrongfully con…

During the early morning hours of July 16, 1898, eleven year old Wesley Elkins, with his baby sister in tow, alerted his neighbors that he had discovered his parents murdered in their bed. When authorities arrived at the gruesome scene, a few different suspects and theories began to emerge. The case was soon solved when one suspect came forward wit…

Naomi (Omie) Wise was an orphan girl. She fell in love with a young gentleman named Johnathan Lewis. Naomi found out she was pregnant. When she told Lewis, he told her to meet him that night so they could run away and get married. Her beaten, bruised body was found in Deep River the next morning. Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Music: Naomi Wise (Om…

On a summer morning in 1975, eight year old Gretchen Harrington walked to Bible camp just a half mile from her home. She never arrived at camp and she never made it home. Authorities and the community were dismayed but not shocked when her remains were discovered just eight miles from home in a wooded park. Now, 48 years later, an arrest has finall…

In 1967 James Joseph Richardson was accused of poisoning to death all seven of his children. Without a shred of evidence he was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Years later, shocking new evidence would come to light that would clear his name and point directly to another suspect. Listen to find out what happened to James Ric…

In 1911, two wealthy sisters submitted themselves to alternative medical treatment for various ailments. The ailments seemed minor when they sought treatment; one sister needing help for her dropped uterus and the other for rheumatism and indigestion. So why did one of them die within 2 months and the other barely make it out with her own life? Lis…

On June 22, 1954, teenage best friends Juliet Hulme and Pauline Reiper went for a walk in Victoria Park with Pauline’s mother Honorah. Thirty minutes later, the girls ran up to a nearby tea shop with blood all over their clothes and hands… Pauline screaming, “ It’s mummy! I think she’s dead! She’s fallen and hit her head! Sources: Music by: Isaiah …

In the summer of 1980, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain, along with their three children, were camping at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Australia. That night after Lindy put the children down to bed in the tent, she heard a cry from her 9 week old daughter, Azaria. When she went to check on her, she discovered the baby was gone and she had just se…

July 1 through 12, 1916, five people were attacked by a shark along the coast of New Jersey. Only one victim survived the attack. Sources: Music by: Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Twelve Days of Terror written by: Richard Fernicola wikipedia findagrave.com newspapers.com https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inventing-beach-unnatur…

One evening in 1932, a baby was taken from his crib as he slept. The child was Charles Lindbergh Jr., son of the infamous Atlantic crossing aviator, Charles Lindbergh. The crime became an instant sensational case. When several ransom notes are received through various channels, investigators are kept on their toes, chasing every lead no matter how …

In 1910, a mob of angry Floridians gathered at Smallwood store in Chokoloskee. They gunned down their neighbor, a plantation owner named Edgar Watson. He was a suspected and feared serial killer. Want to support us? Go to hardtimesandtruecrimes.com and buy us a coffee Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Music By: Isaiah Hildreth Sharecropper and Son By Sherr…

In the summer of 1977, three young girls are murdered in their tent on the first night at summer camp. The tragic aftermath ended with the closing of the camp never to reopen and left parents wondering if the camp experience was no longer a safe haven for their children. One suspect stands out among several; he is eventually charged for the crime a…

In 1928, twenty-one year old serial killer Gordon Northcott stalked the streets of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas looking for young boys to lure back to his chicken farm. Darlene and Melody tell his victims' stories. Was Gordon Northcott ever brought to justice? Listen here to find out! Sources: Intro Music: Isaiah Hildreth Intro and Outro N…

In part one Darlene and Melody discuss the disappearance of Walter Collins. On March 8, 1928 Christine Collins was called in to work for a few hours at her job as a telephone operator. Her son, nine year old Walter Collins, wanted to go see a movie, so Christine gave him a dime to go. She instructed Walter to come home directly after the movie. Tha…

In the summer of 1967, on a small island off the coast of NC a young intern at the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, vanished. Nineteen year old Brenda Holland's body was found five days later in the Albemarle Sound. The suspect list is long but the evidence is lacking, and no arrest is ever made. The case remains unsolved to this day. Support the sh…

In 1896 a young woman's headless body was found in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky. During the autopsy it was discovered she had been pregnant at the time of her death. She was identified by her shoes and a birth defect that left her with webbed toes. Pearl Bryan was a beautiful 22 year old socialite from Green Castle, Indiana. Her family thought she was visi…

Five year old Garnett Spears has spent most of his childhood in and out of hospitals. Doctors become suspicious when unusually high sodium levels show up and can not be explained by natural causes. Support the show www.hardtimesandtruecrimes.com buymeacoffee.com/hardtimesTCBy Darlene Hildreth and Melody Gwyn

In 1913 a little girl was found brutally murdered in the basement of the pencil factory where she worked. The trial of the century would follow an arrest. Was the right man convicted? Music: "Hard Times" By Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com findagrave.com Wikipedia Prash's Murder Map : True Crime Podcast Crimes …

One morning in May 1866, just before daybreak Laura Foster quietly left her home with a bundle of clothes and her father's horse. She was going to rendezvous with her beau, Tom Dooley. Rumor had it they were going to run off and get married. However, Tom did not run off and Laura never returned home. When her body was found in a shallow grave, some…

An Appalachian, snake handling preacher named Glenn Summerford tried to murder his wife using a rattlesnake as his weapon. Or did he? Music: "Hard Times" By Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator : Curtis Hildreth Sources: Salvation on Sand Mountain by Glenn Covington Alabama Snake Documentary https://youtu.be/nnnvicF9emU https://youtu.be/7OcoUyXiuU0https:/…

In the spring of 1987, a young woman shows up at the hospital after allegedly giving birth in her car. After a medical exam reveals that she has not given birth, authorities discover the unthinkable lengths she went to to get this baby. Support the show www.hardtimesandtruecrimes.com buymeacoffee.com/hardtimesTC…

In the 1940's Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck preyed on lonely women looking for love through lonely hearts advertisements. The duo started out as con artists but greed and jealousy led them to serial killing. Sources : The Lonely Hearts Killers: The Bloody Passions of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez By Tobin T. Buhk newspapers.com findagrave.c…