In 1924, bones emerging from the River Leine exposed the crimes of Fritz Haarmann—the “Butcher of Hanover”—who had been operating in plain sight. This episode traces the missing boys, the fractured systems that failed them, and how one city finally uncovered a killer hidden in its midst.

Source Materials

Alexander Gilbert — The Hanover Vampire: Fritz Haarmann

Mark Pulham — “The Monster of Hanover,” Crime Magazine

Maria Tatar — Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany

Crime Stories, Criminalistic Fantasy, and the Culture of Crisis in Weimar Germany

Sexual Murder: Catathymic and Compulsive Homicide, Annals of Forensic Research

Morgan Dunn — “Fritz Haarmann Was a Popular Butcher…” (All That’s Interesting)

Hannover Police Records (as cited through secondary sources)

Hannoverscher Kurier reporting (as cited through secondary sources)

A quiet border town, a sudden illness, and a solicitor accused of poisoning both his wife and a rival. This episode examines the Armstrong case and why, even 100 years later, it remains one of Britain’s most debated convictions.

Sources & Further Reading

Stephen Bates, The Poisonous Solicitor (2022)

Martin Beales, The Hay Poisoner: Herbert Rowse Armstrong (2001)

Robin Odell, Exhumation of a Murder (1975)

“Herbert Rowse Armstrong,” The History Room (history-room.co.uk)

Polly Botsford, “The incredible true story of the only solicitor ever to hang for murder,” Legal Cheek (legalcheek.com)

Stephanie Almazan, “Herbert Armstrong,” The Line-Up (the-line-up.com)

Nicola Bryan, “Fresh doubt cast on solicitor’s murder conviction 100 years on,” BBC News (bbc.com)

A 1932 Stockholm murder becomes one of Sweden’s strangest cold cases. When 32-year-old Lilly Lindeström is found dead in her apartment, unusual details spark rumorsof a “vampire” killer. What’s fact, what’s myth, and why was the case never solved?

Source Materials
https://gizmodo.com/swedens-most-bizarre-unsolved-murder-was-maybe-commit-1706115395
https://londonpress.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/the-disturbing-unsolved-case-of-the-atlas-vampire

https://medium.com/@marvelinemerab/she-was-killed-in-broad-daylight-and-drained-like-a-horror-story-de41701dd6bf

https://www.ranker.com/list/atlas-vampire-murder/april-a-taylor
https://strangeremains.com/2019/10/24/stockholms-unsolved-vampire-murder
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/201211/vampire-personality-disorder

https://polismuseet.se

https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se