Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Roanoke Island is host every year to the famous "Lost Colony" outdoor drama. It was during the 1967 production that a young makeup artist named Brenda Joyce Holland went missing - her body eventually discovered floating in Albemarle Sound. A murder investigation ensued, with important evidence being mishandled and a slew of suspects to sort through, including her boyfriend and an abusive dentist. My guest on this episode of Most Notorious is investigative reporter John Railey, who has followed the case since the beginning. His book is called "The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland". More information about his book can be found here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467147392Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the evening of December 23rd 1881, three teenagers, alone in a farmhouse in Ashland Kentucky, were savagely murdered and the house set afire to cover the crime. What followed would be an investigation, trials, a lynching, and a massacre of Ashland citizens by state militia, in this fascinating and tragic series of events. My guest is Joe Castle, author of "The Ashland Tragedy: Murder, a Mob & a Militia in Kentucky". More information about his book can be found here: https://theashlandtragedy.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the tail end of World War Two, a serial killer named James Waybern "Red" Hall, stalked the roads of Arkansas, Kansas and other middle American states, remorselessly murdering kind people who made the unfortunate decision to offer him a ride. My guest, Janie Nesbitt Jones, is the author of “The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer: James Waybern ‘Red’ Hall." She talks about Hall's murders, how investigators eventually caught up to him, and theorizes on why he did what he did. More information about Janie Nesbitt Jones and her book can be found here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467148177Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When sheriff's deputies arrived at David and Allene Lamson's Palo Alto home on Memorial Day, 1933, they found David frantic over what he said was a terrible accident in their bathroom. Allene, he explained, had slipped when getting out of the bathtub and bashed her head on the sink, resulting in her death. Investigators, however, believed something far more sinister had taken place. My guest is Tom Zaniello, and he shares details from his book "California's Lamson Murder Mystery: The Depression Era Case that Divided Santa Clara County". More information can be found here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467136532Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November of 1912, a young woman named Ella Barham journeyed home, on her horse, to her family farm in Boone County, Arkansas, but never arrived. After her body was discovered, murdered and dismembered, suspicions quickly centered on a neighbor, Odus Davidson, who was rumored to have been in love with Ella, a love never returned. My guest, Nita Gould, has a very personal connection to Ella, one that led to her write the book she joins us to discuss today, called "Remembering Ella: A 1912 Murder and Mystery in the Arkansas Ozarks." More information can be found on her website, here: https://www.rememberingella.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imprisoned in a Turkish war camp during WW1, two British officers pull off an unbelievable con against their captors involving a Ouija board, an angry ghost and feigned madness - leading to a truly astonishing escape. My guest is bestselling author Margalit Fox, author of "Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History." More information about Margalit Fox and her work can be found at: http://margalitfox.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Albert Johnson is famous in Canadian crime history for leading Mounties on a sensational and deadly chase through the Yukon and Northwest Territories during the winter of 1931-32. How he managed to elude police over hundreds of kilometers in subzero temperatures through a mountainous wilderness is as much a mystery as his real identity. To this day, very little is known about the man nicknamed "The Mad Trapper".My guest, Helena Katz, Canadian historian and author, joins me to talk about her book, "The Mad Trapper: The Incredible Tale of a Famous Canadian Manhunt". More information can be found at her website at http://www.katzcommunications.ca/ .Happy Victoria Day to all of my northern friends and listeners!Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of us are familiar with the critically acclaimed film called Catch Me If You Can, based on the autobiography of legendary confidence man Frank Abagnale. It's the story of a brazen teenage imposter who through charm and intellect was able to pass as an attorney, a doctor, a pilot and a university professor in the late 1960s and early 1970s.My guest, Alan C. Logan, has done extensive research into Frank Abagnale's well-known and near-mythical narrative, found it riddled with holes, and lays out some of what he has discovered for us on this week's episode of Most Notorious. Alan Logan's book is called "The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can", and can be ordered in bookstores, online retailers, and through his website at: http://www.greatesthoax.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1897 a Belgian named Adrien de Gerlache, in command of a ship called the Belgica, sailed to Antarctica with the intent to be the first to reach the south magnetic pole. On the expedition was Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who would later become one of the world's most famous explorers, and Doctor Frederick Cook, who would become one of America's greatest charlatans. My guest, Julian Sancton, shares the story of the ill-fated ship, which found itself entombed in ice and forced to face a dark polar winter, its crew suffering from scurvy, madness and death. His book is called "Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night."More information about the book can be found at: https://sites.prh.com/juliansanctonBecome a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MostNotorious1Most Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

J. Frank Norris rose to fame as the controversial fundamentalist pastor of America's first megachurch, the First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. He used his pulpit, his newspaper and his radio station to battle his enemies in unscrupulous ways, and when one angry local businessman named Dexter Chipps marched into his office in July of 1926 to confront him about his tactics, Norris pulled out a gun and shot him dead. My guest, David R. Stokes, is an ordained minister, broadcaster and author, and he talks in detail about Norris's rise to religious stardom, his use of sensationalist sermons to attract membership, his sordid association with the Ku Klux Klan, and the dramatic courtroom spectacle that followed this infamous Texas slaying. His book is called "Apparent Danger: The Pastor of America's First Megachurch and the Texas Murder Trial of the Decade in the 1920s". Moore information can be found at his website: https://davidstokeslive.wordpress.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices