Crimes of the Centuries
Crime is so commonplace that it takes something particularly shocking to be labelled the “crime of the century.” Even so, there are a lot of cases that have earned the distinction. In each episode of Crimes of the Centuries, award-winning journalist Amber Hunt will examine a case that’s lesser known today but was huge when it happened. The cases explored span the centuries and each left a mark. Some made history by changing laws. Others were so shocking they changed society.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 39 minutes
- Episodes
- 223
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
S4 Ep23: Cassie Chadwick: The Impostor Heiress of the Gilded Age
Cassie Chadwick of Cleveland wasn't who she said she was. Even she admitted that -- though in her version, she wasn't the con artist daughter of a Canadian farmer, but rather the illegitimate daughte…
00:38:48 |
Mon 19 Aug 2024
S4 Ep22: The Largest Art Heist in American History
When several men dressed as cops entered the Isabella Gardner Museum in March of 1990, the nighttime security detail didn't think much of it -- until one of the "officers" handcuffed the guards' wris…
00:42:29 |
Mon 12 Aug 2024
S4 Ep21: Sex, Lies and a Government Conspiracy: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
In 1932, hundreds of men in Tuskegee, Alabama, signed up for something they'd never had much access to: healthcare. The best part? It was free. Told for decades they were being treated for "bad blood…
00:47:23 |
Mon 05 Aug 2024
S4 Ep20: Terror in Munich: The 1972 Olympic Games
After Munich, Germany, was named the host of the 1972 Olympic Games, organizers were determined to highlight the country's softer side after the horrors of World War II. This was, after all, the firs…
00:42:42 |
Mon 29 Jul 2024
S4 Ep19: The Time Mobile, Alabama, Sentenced a Man to Death For Stealing $1.95
When a handyman from Mobile, Alabama, was accused of stealing $1.95 from a woman who employed him in 1957, no one could have guessed the fervor it would cause, not just nationally but overseas. Jimmy…
00:36:52 |
Mon 22 Jul 2024
S4 Ep18: The Pimlico Poisoning: The Trial of Adelaide Bartlett
Soon after London bade farewell to 1885 and welcomed the new year, a woman named Adelaide Bartlett roused her sleeping house with screams. Her husband, Edwin, who had seemed to have turned a corner o…
00:43:04 |
Mon 15 Jul 2024
From Grab Bag Collab: The Catalyst
Hey, Crimes of the Centuries listeners! COTC is dark for the next two weeks, but as a special bonus, here is another episode of The Catalyst, a true-crime podcast that publishes every other Friday ex…
00:35:58 |
Mon 01 Jul 2024
S4 Ep17: The Falcon and the Snowman
In the 1970s, an aerospace firm in Redondo Beach, California, had the clever idea of handing over access to highly classified spy satellite secrets to a 20-something named Christopher Boyce. It didn'…
00:41:39 |
Mon 24 Jun 2024
S4 Ep16: The Lonely Hearts Club Killers
After World War II stole a great many men from their loving wives, Lonely Hearts clubs were all the rage for lonely widows looking for love. A number of them thought they'd met their soul mates when …
00:39:14 |
Mon 17 Jun 2024
S4 Ep15: Randy Ayers: The Case of the Lookalike
Randy Ayers was a 17-year-old high school senior when he was spotted at school and identified as the man who raped and tried to kill a 15-year-old girl in November 1981. It would take nine agonizing …
00:36:53 |
Mon 10 Jun 2024
S4 Ep14: Voyage of the Damned: The M.S. St. Louis
The 937 passengers aboard the M.S. St. Louis had every reason to be optimistic as they left Hamburg, Germany, on May 13, 1939. After years of their rights being slowly stripped away, the Jewish men, …
00:40:16 |
Mon 03 Jun 2024
S4 Ep13: Kidnapped and Buried Alive: The Nightmare in Chowchilla
When 26 California schoolchildren and their bus driver failed to show up after a swimming trip on the penultimate day of summer school, authorities launched a search that grew much more frantic after…
00:36:05 |
Mon 27 May 2024
S4 Ep12: The Tsavo Man Eaters
In 1898, a pair of killers stalked a worksite in the Tsavo region of Kenya. They evaded blockades and booby traps to torment hundreds of men who'd simply signed up to do a job but instead found thems…
00:37:09 |
Mon 20 May 2024
S4 Ep11: Marie Noe and Her Cradle of Death
In the 1960s, after losing all 10 of the babies they'd conceived, Marie Noe and her husband, Arthur, became the most famous bereaved parents in America, with most of the deaths attributed to "crib de…
00:38:30 |
Mon 13 May 2024
S4 Ep10: The Walk of Death: Howard Unruh
On September 6, 1949, 28-year-old World War II veteran Howard Unruh ate the breakfast his mother made him, then armed himself with a Luger pistol and walked calmly through his Camden, New Jersey, nei…
00:37:18 |
Mon 06 May 2024
S4 Ep9: The Monster of Wall Street
While the grift he deployed had been named for another man, Bernie Madoff took the concept of a Ponzi scheme and pumped it full of steroids, allowing it to keep him -- and plenty of others -- filthy …
00:41:41 |
Mon 29 Apr 2024
S4 Ep8: Charles Ponzi's Scheme
Italian-born Charles Ponzi had grown up hearing from his mother that he was destined for greatness, so it was no surprise to her when she visited him in America to find him wealthy beyond her wildest…
00:41:37 |
Mon 22 Apr 2024
S4 Ep7: The Los Angeles Times Bombing
In the midst of nationwide bombings that pit union backers against anti-union bosses, an explosion at the Los Angeles Times building crossed a line that changed everything. At 1:07 a.m. on Oct. 1, 19…
00:38:02 |
Mon 15 Apr 2024
S4 Ep6: How the Assault of Recy Taylor Shaped Civil Rights Tactics
In September 1944, a 24-year-old married woman named Recy Taylor was walking home with friends from church when a carload of seven men stopped her. Forced into the car, Recy, a Black woman, was repea…
00:43:12 |
Mon 08 Apr 2024
From Grab Bag Collab: The Catalyst
Hey, Crimes of the Centuries listeners! COTC is now part of Grab Bag Collab, a Patreon-based podcasting network. You can find our other shows available at patreon.com/grabbagcollab
Alcoholism, multi…
Alcoholism, multi…
00:37:27 |
Mon 01 Apr 2024
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