William Jansen, a King Among Ghouls

Contrary to popular belief, the famous body-snatching duo of William Burke and William Hare were not actually body snatchers. They never robbed graves at all -- they had their own way of supplying anatomists with fresh corpses, and it didn’t involve the graveyard. They simply kil ...  Show more

So far in our season of body snatching, we’ve been looking at things mainly from the point of view of the snatcher. But we’re going to change that up a little. Scottish surgeon John Hunter was “the patron saint of the body snatchers.” What do you have to do to earn that title? We ...  Show more

Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Why was this happening? Who would be next? Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called “Mad Poisoner.” We’re joined ...  Show more

Listeners, we’re popping back into your feed this week to share a special crossover episode from Serial Killers and Conspiracy Theories. Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia ...  Show more

This is the finale of our Serial Killers and Conspiracy Theories crossover: By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connect ...  Show more

Around 2013 heroin users in the US and other countries suddenly started dying from overdose in previously-unseen numbers. The culprit turned out to be the incredibly potent drug fentanyl and it soon created a massive new wave in the opioid epidemic.See omnystudio.com/listener for ...  Show more