Coldest Cases

The suspicious deaths started cropping up slowly in Osage County, Oklahoma around 1921. Members of the Osage Native American tribe were dying of “wasting diseases” or “drink”... while their loved ones weren’t convinced. Soon, the deaths became more brazen, with people being shoved off moving trains or thrown in front of cars. Although it took years for anyone in power to believe them, the Osage tribe knew exactly what was going on. There could be no denying it or chalking it up to coincidence: They were being purposefully targeted… and it seemed like no government official. police officer or lawyer was willing or able to help.

Coldest Cases is back with an all new mystery. New episodes weekly starting September 12th.

While Lauren is busy researching her next big story on Coldest Cases, we’re diving into the archives of Coldest Cases’ sister podcast, History in a Hurry! Born in London in 1815, Ada Lovelace was one of the smartest people the world has ever known. She had a rare mind that excelled in mathematics, language, art, music and science. As a teenager, when one of her mentors showed her the world’s first calculator, Ada saw much more than a machine that could solve for “x”. Click play to learn more about the amazing woman who invented coding a century before it became a reality!

Jack joins Lauren to discuss the crazy case of the Paris Poison Affair. We also rate and review the TV show Versailles and the movie The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Louis XIV takes dramatic steps to end the Paris Poison Affair.. and burns some of the evidence. More than a century later, though, the scandalous secret of Louis’ nobility was rediscovered by chance. Part Five includes the dramatic end to this investigation, plus Lauren sifts through fact & fiction.

At least of two Louis the Fourteenth’s mistresses, Madame de Montespan, are implicated in the Paris Poison Affair. The King orders his Lieutenant General of Police to keep the investigation quiet. But soon, the list of suspects grows to more than 400 people, leaving Nicolas de la Reynie with some very tough choices.

The web of poison plots in Paris grows. At least four noblewomen are accused of poisoning or attempting to poison their husbands. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General of Police Nicolas de la Reynie uncovers an unsettling plot against the King as part of the investigation.

Three years after the case of Madame de Brinvilliers, a noblewoman named Madame de Poulallion is accused of poisoning her husband so she could be with her lover. While investigating the case, Paris’ lieutenant general of police Nicolas de la Reynie uncovers two suspects who may have helped Poulallion… and at least three other women… take purposeful steps towards widowhood. From arsenic-laced frogs to “love potions,” Part Two on the Paris Poison Affair is not an episode you want to miss.

July 17th, 1676. A noblewoman named Madame de Brinvilliers is executed after confessing to poisoning her father and brothers, as well as attempting to poison her husband. However, her death at the guillotine marks just the beginning of a decade-long investigation involving accusations of poison, witchcraft, devil worshiping, and murder against hundreds of Paris’ nobility.

Let’s watch movies & talk about them on Coldest Cases! Jack joins Lauren for this special discussion episode, where we watch/review Escape from Alcatraz and Death Hunt (based on the Mad Trapper of Rat River). Plus, Lauren shares what mystery from history she’s working on next.

February 17, 1932. After a 53 day manhunt across the freezing, remote land of Canada’s Northwest Territories, a trapper by the name of “Albert Johnson” is taken down by Mounties after being shot nine times. For two months, he led police officers on a chase across sprawling mountain ranges in freezing temperatures, always managing to stay a few steps ahead. Today, the Mad Trapper’s true identity remains a mystery.

In 1975, a former friend of John and Clarence Anglin reports seeing the brothers alive and well in Brazil. He even took a picture. In 2013, police in San Francisco receive a letter supposedly from an 83-year-old John. In Part Two, Lauren dives into the latest developments in this unsolved case as well as the history of failed escape attempts on Alcatraz.

June 12, 1962. On this quiet morning at the maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island, a guard notices something strange in the cells of inmates John and Clarence Anglin. When officials try to wake the sleeping inmates, they realize something major has gone down: the Anglin brothers, along with inmate Frank Morris, have escaped, and left behind paper mache heads as a decoy. In the decades since, the world has debated their fate as this escape remains unsolved.

A governor, a mayor, and a gunsmith are named as the three top conspirators in a plot against George Washington and the Continental Army. For General Washington, the news gets worse when he hears his housemaid is possibly involved. This news all comes as British ships flock to the harbor by the hundreds, and the Revolutionary War begins.

June 28th, 1776. A member of George Washington’s Life Guard (basically America’s first Secret Service) is executed for conspiring to turn on the General and take his life in the name of Great Britain. The plot, discovered by random chance, would have irrevocably changed the course of America’s history. And according to witnesses, several other Life Guards were in on the traitorous plans.

Jack joins Lauren to discuss the crazy things we’ve learned about the mysterious life of Grigori Rasputin. Plus, hear what crazy old mystery from history Lauren is working on next.

Felix Yusupov comes up with a plan to murder Rasputin and enlists the help of several others. However, even today we don’t know how exactly Rasputin’s death came about. Lauren dives into the dramatic finish to Rasputin’s story. The dramatic end to Rasputin’s story, plus why a mysterious situation in Berlin in 1920 led to decades of rumors about some of the Romanovs surviving their grisly demise.

Just weeks after Rasputin’s murder, Russia’s Tsar Nicholas abdicated and his family ended up under house arrest. 18 months later, the entire family was murdered in the basement of Ipatiev House in cold blood. So… is there any truth to Alexandra’s claims that Rasputin was a Holy Man sent to protect her family? Lauren explores fact and fiction in Part Three on Grigori Rasputin.

Rasputin met Russia’s Tsar & Tsarina in late 1905, after a tumultuous year for the country. Despite protests from the government, the church & the people, Nicholas & Alexandra continued to give this Siberian peasant more access to the Royal Palace & Court. Part Two looks into why & how Rasputin’s influence was able to stretch as far as it did… & why Nicholas & Alexandra continued to ignore the warnings that no good would come from the situation.

December 16, 1916. A self-proclaimed holy man.. & devoted, dear friend to Russia’s Tsar & Tsarina is lured to a palace cellar in St Petersburg. It was there Rasputin was murdered… but how he died has been up for debate for decades.