Criminal

A black and white illustration of a table setting, with a plate in the middle, three forks on the left, a spoon and fork above the plate, and two knives on the right.

The Perfectionists

Episode #230

2023-08-04 05:00:56

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A story about religion, sex, an assassination, and silverware. 
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A Glamour and a Mystery

Episode #229

2023-07-28 05:00:55

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In the summer of 1917, 16-year-old Elsie Wright took a photograph of her 9-year-old cousin, Frances Griffiths. It was the first photograph she’d ever taken — and it became the source of a mystery that lasted for most of the 20th century.
Black and white illustration of three Dungeons & Dragons dice.

Roll of the Dice

Episode #228

2023-07-21 05:00:16

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The investigation into the Unabomber was one of the longest manhunts in American history. Over 18 years, the FBI looked into a number of people, including a group of friends who loved Dungeons & Dragons.
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The Bodies in the Bog

Episode #227

2023-07-14 07:51:40

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In the summer of 1984, a local newspaper reporter outside of Manchester, England, got a tip from the police. A foot had been found in a nearby bog.
Black and white digital illustration of the cover of a Nash News issue -- all caps text at top reads “The Nash News” and below, an abstract graphic of many overlapping circles composed of stripes and dots.

The Prison Newspaper

Episode #226

2023-07-07 05:00:32

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A little over sixty years ago, there were 250 prison newspapers being published on a regular basis. Today, there are 26. We talked with the editor of one of them.
A black and white doubled illustration of Aretha Franklin.

The Impersonator

Episode #225

2023-06-30 05:00:23

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Mary Jones could sing just like Aretha Franklin. One night, a James Brown impersonator saw her perform at a Motown tribute show and got an idea. “He thought he would take her on the road, and tell everyone that she was the real Aretha.”
A black and white illustration of Eliot Ness on top of a map of the midwest, with a dotted line drawn from Cleveland to Chicago.

Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and Cleveland’s Torso Murderer

Episode #224

2023-06-23 05:00:02

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A Cleveland man collecting driftwood along the Lake Erie shore found a human torso on the beach. No one could figure out what had happened.
A black and white illustration of a woman's head and neck. Her eyes are closed and she is smiling slightly. She is on a black background with a white circle drawn around her.

The Unknown Woman

Episode #223

2023-06-16 05:00:42

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When a toymaker and a doctor teamed up to make the world’s first CPR doll, they decided to make the doll’s face look like one specific woman – a woman who they thought had drowned.
Black and white illustration of a circular paramedic badge, with a the medical symbol of a caduceus, a staff with two snakes coiled around it, and two lightning bolts on either side. Text reads: Criminal, Episode 222: The Paramedics.

The Paramedics

Episode #222

2023-06-09 05:00:08

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As recently as 1965, if you had a medical emergency, the people who showed up at your door would be volunteer firefighters, police officers, or undertakers with a hearse. Today, the story of how a group of Black men from Pittsburgh changed that.
Illustration of an old U.S. Air Force logo in white on a black background. The logo is a star within a circle with two horizontal stripes on each side.

Lavender Scare

Episode #221

2023-06-02 05:00:19

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Helen James grew up in a military family — her great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, her father in WWI, and her uncles in WWII. So when she enlisted in 1952, she felt like she belonged. Shortly after, she realized she was being watched.
Black and white illustration of a ship on a rough and stormy ocean, with dark clouds overhead.

Shipwrecked

Episode #220

2023-05-26 05:00:57

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There’s an old sailors’ saying about the ocean at the southernmost part of the world — “below 40 degrees latitude, there is no law; below 50 degrees, there is no God.” The story of what happened when five British warships sailed around the very bottom of South America, at 56 degrees latitude.
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A Mysterious Bank

Episode #219

2023-05-19 05:00:44

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Today, the story of the woman running a Ponzi scheme before Charles Ponzi was even born.
Black and white digital illustration of a long table with only one chair -- representing a jury deliberation table and the experience of each individual juror after a trial.

“Did we get it right?”

Episode #218

2023-05-12 05:00:22

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“What we ask jurors to do is to just absorb all this trauma and just to keep on absorbing it and not process it with anyone. Just hold it in and hold it in and hold it in.” A look at what happens during and after a trial – and how some courts are trying to help jurors.
A black and white illustration of a long rectangular conference room table with 12 chairs around it.

The Juror

Episode #217

2023-05-05 05:00:05

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In 2008, Sven Berger was chosen to serve on the jury for a murder trial. He says the sentence that he and his fellow jurors handed down “felt like a mistake right away.”
A black and white illustration of a tall wall with four barred windows - one has a fan in it. There is a cross embedded into the top of the wall.

The Magdalene Laundries

Episode #216

2023-04-28 05:00:41

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At 14, Elizabeth Coppin was sent to work at a laundry business in Cork, Ireland. When she arrived, she noticed bars on the windows.
A black and white illustration including a tie with the name T. Keane on it, a pack of Juicy Fruit gum, a suitcase, a card of thread with the word "Barbour's" on it, a cigarette, a butter knife filed into a sharp point, and seemingly random letters.

The Somerton Man

Episode #215

2023-04-21 05:00:07

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In 1948, a dead man was discovered on a beach in Australia. No one could identify him — until last year.