Criminalia

Hosts Holly Frey and Maria Trimarchi are joined by "The Poisoner's Handbook" author and Pulitzer Prize recipient Deborah Blum. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com...

5 Jan 202127min

Amy Archer-Gilligan was the proprietress of The Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids, in Windsor, Conn., one of the first nursing homes in the U.S. But she may have been responsible for...

29 Dec 202031min

Mary Ann Cotton was convicted of, and hanged for, the lethal poisoning of her stepson Charles Edward Cotton. But it's likely that she murdered as many as 21 people, including three of her four husband...

22 Dec 202033min

Belle Gunness wanted what every American wants: the American Dream. And through insurance fraud and murder, she eventually found it. "Hell's Belle," as she was known, used strychnine -- and a meat cle...

16 Dec 202037min

Hieronyma Spara, known as "La Spara," organized instruction in the uses of arsenic for married women who were considering bettering their station in life by becoming wealthy widows. After the church b...

8 Dec 202026min

Bertha Gifford was well-known throughout her community for her cooking skills and her compassion. She acted in the role of nurse for her sick family and neighbors, and was eventually accused of murder...

1 Dec 202025min

Velma Barfield is probably better known for her execution than for her murders. She became the first woman to be executed in North Carolina after the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. She was also...

24 Nov 202025min

Locusta, herself, wasn't a poisoner. She was a maker of poisons – think of her more like a botanist or chemist. But she was actually more like an assassin-for-hire – she provided poisons because she w...

17 Nov 202028min