In 1935, the seaside calm of Bournemouth was shattered by scandal, betrayal, and murder. Alma Rattenbury — a once-celebrated musician — and her teenage lover GeorgeStoner stood accused in a case that gripped Britain with its mix of passion, tragedy, and sensational headlines. In this episode, we trace Alma’s extraordinary life, her ill-fated marriage to architect Francis Rattenbury, and the events that led to one of the most infamous trials of the 20th century.

Source Materials

The Architect & the Lady - Canada's History

2015.173615.Trial-Of-Alma-Victoria--Rattenbury-And George-Percy-Soner.pdf

The British Newspaper Archive Blog Murder of Francis Rattenbury | The British Newspaper Archive Blog

Adultery, jealousy and murder: How the Rattenbury case gripped the nation | Bournemouth Echo

Jack Knox: Out of tragedy, Francis Rattenbury's son became a fine dad - Victoria Times Colonist

The femme fatale who scandalised Britain: Murder at the Villa Madeira that gripped the country | Daily Mail Online

This Week in History: 1935: Sex, drugs, murder and suicide — the Rattenbury case had it all | Vancouver Sun

The Sensational High-Society Murder of Francis M. Rattenbury | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Murder, suicide and the pain of a surviving son

The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury - Sean O'Connor - Google Books

In 1660, the quiet Cotswold town of Chipping Campden was shaken by the disappearance of its elderly steward, William Harrison. Within months, three members of the Perry family were convicted and hanged for his murder — without a body ever being found. Two years later, Harrison returned alive, with a tale of pirates, slavery, and improbable escape. Was it truth, invention, or something stranger still?

Source Materials

The Story - The Campden Wonder

A true and perfect account of the examination, confession, trial, condemnation and execution of Joan Perry, and her two sons, John and Richard Perry, for the supposed murder of Will. Harrison, Gent Being one of the most remarkable occurrences which hath happened in the memory of man. Sent in a letter (by Sir Thomas Overbury, of Burton, in the county of Gloucester, Knt. and one of His Majesty's justices of the peace) to Thomas Shirly, Doctor of physick, in London. Also Mr. Harrison's own account how he was conveyed to Turky, and there made a slave above 2 years, when hismaster (who bought him there) dying, he return'd to England; in the mean while, supposed to be murdered by his man-servant, who falsly accused his own mother and brother as guilty of the same, and were all three executed for it on Broadway-Hills, in Gloucestershire. | Early English Books Online | University of Michigan Library Digital Collections

The Curious Case of the Campden Wonder

The Campden Wonder | Chipping Campden Online

The Campden Wonder - abduction and witchcraft in 17th century Cotswolds | Great British Life

The Campden Wonder; or, The Supposed Murder of William Harrison — Historical Blindness

The Mystery of The Campden Wonder | Amusing Planet

In 1892 Memphis, a secret romance between two young women unraveled in tragedy. This episode traces the story of Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward — from their plannedelopement to a public murder and a sensational trial — and examines how their case shaped early conversations about same-sex love, gender norms, and mental health in America.

Source Materials:

The Trials of Alice Mitchell: Sensationalism, Sexology, and the Lesbian Subject in Turn-of the-Century America Author(s): Lisa Duggan. Source: Signs, Vol. 18, No. 4, Theorizing Lesbian Experience (Summer, 1993), pp. 791-814 Published by: TheUniversity of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174907 .

Images of Alice: Gender, Deviancy, and a Love Murder in Memphis

Erotomania and Murder in Memphis | by Alexis Coe | The Awl | Medium

Girl Slays Girl: An Excerpt From Alice + Freda Forever

A Love Gone South in 'Alice + Freda Forever' - Deep South Magazine

Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls' young love ends tragically, creates national headlines | Focus LGBT+ Magazine

Murder by Gaslight: "Girl Slays Girl."

Alice Mitchell: Passion, Murder, and a Scandal That Shook America – True Crime Archives

Mitchell, Alice | Encyclopedia.com

When a young English aristocrat vanished at sea in 1854, his family mourned—except for his mother, who refused to believe he was dead. More than a decade later, a butcher from Australia claimed to be the long-lost heir. What followed was one of the most sensational legal battles of the Victorian era. This week on Historical True Crime, we unravel the strange and sprawling saga of the Tichborne Claimant.

Source Materials:

The Tichborne Trials Archive | Hampshire Cultural Trust Online Collections

The Tichborne case: a Victorian melodrama | State Library of New South Wales

The Mysterious Case of Tichborne and His Stolen Identity - Historic Mysteries

The Man Who Lost Himself: The Unbelievable Story of the Tichborne Claimant

The Tichborne trial

THE TICHBORNE CASE

The Tichborne Case - a Case of Identity Fraud? - Brighton & Hove Museums

A charming jazz musician with a philosophical streak. A series of brutal, seemingly unrelated murders. In this episode, we uncover the disturbing double life of Melvin Rees—known to the press as "The Sex Beast"—and the investigation that nearly let him slip away.

Source Materials

The encyclopedia of serial killers : Lane, Brian : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Melvin Rees -- a little known but deadly sadist and rapist — Without a Trace — Crime Library

To Live and Die in Chicago: 7 Prohibition Era Gangsters Who Met a Violent End in the Windy City

Serial Killer Diaries | Psychology Today

FBI Records: The Vault — Melvin Rees

Melvin Rees | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

In 1928, deep in Pennsylvania’s Hex Hollow, three men believed they were cursed by a local powwow doctor – a folk healer named Nelson Rehmeyer. What followed blurred the line between old-world magic and modern crime, ending in murder, a sensational trial, and a legacy that still haunts the region today. This is the story of superstition, fear, and the killing that made Hex Hollow infamous.

Source Materials:

Powwowing Among the Pennsylvania Dutch: A Traditional Medical Practice in ... - David W. Kriebel - Google Books

Dark Magic: The 1928 Hex Hollow Murder of Nelson Rehmeyer

Rehmeyer's Hollow, York County, Pa.: Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Murder — Top Ten Haunted Places — Crime Library

THE "HEX HOUSE" MURDER — American Hauntings

Witchcraft and Murder in Hex Hollow – Uncharted Lancaster

The Hex Murder Case: Witchcraft in Pennsylvania

Rehmeyer's Hollow - Atlas Obscura

A Victorian cult of love, prophecy, and scandal. When Henry James Prince declared himself divine, he founded a religious sect that promised salvation—but delivered something far stranger. Decades later, a new messiah would rise. Thisis the story of the Agapemonites, from spiritual awakening to final collapse.

SourceMaterials

Henry Prince and John Smyth-Pigott, Agapemonite Messiahs - HeadStuff

Henry James Prince and the Agapemonites

The Agapemonites: Victorian Britain's premiere sex cult

The Agapemone – WRSP

The mid-1800s sex cult in the heart of Spaxton | Bridgwater Mercury

Agapemonites Vicar's sex cult excites buyers' interest in rustic Abode of Love | The Independent | The Independent

When William Morgan vanished in 1826, he left behind a manuscript—and a firestorm. This episode explores the man who took on the Freemasons, the mystery of his disappearance, and how his fate sparked America’s first third party.

Source Materials:

The Masonic Murder That Inspired the First Third Party in American Politics

One Man Exposed the Secrets of the Freemasons. His Disappearance Led to Their Downfall | HISTORY

Masons and American history: The 1826 kidnapping, allegedly by freemasons, that changed American politics forever.

Murder by Gaslight: William Morgan - Revenge of the Freemasons

Killed by the Freemasons? The Secrets of William Morgan - Historic Mysteries