History Dweebs - A look at True Crime, Murders, Serial Killers and the Darkside of History

Arthur Shawcross was convicted of murdering two small children in 1972.  Paroled early for good behavior, Shawcross would go on to murder 12 women in cold blood.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Peterborough ditch murders were a series of three murders which took place in the United Kingdom, in March 2013. All of the victims were male, and died from stab wounds. The bodies of all three men were discovered dumped in ditches outside of Peterborough. In November 2013, Joanna Dennehy pleaded guilty to all three murders and two further attempted murders.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christine Falling was a 17-year-old babysitter when she murdered five babies and an elderly man. She is one of the youngest female serial killers in U.S. history.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Known as The Cleveland Strangler, Anthony Sowell, was convicted of murdering 11 women and dumping their remains in and around his house. When he was arrested in 2009, rotting corpses were found throughout his Cleveland, Ohio home.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Parker Ray kidnapped women and tortured them in a mobile home kept in New Mexico that he referred to as his “toy box.” He was almost certainly a serial killer and claimed to have murdered countless women. Though no bodies were ever found, several missing persons are believed to have been his victims. He was caught, however, when his final victim managed an incredible escape.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the early 1980's, a Satanic Cult, known as the "The Ripper Crew" abducted, raped, tortured, mutillated and murdered 18 young women in the Chicago area. The group would then participate in satanic rituals using the severed breasts of their young victims.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Since the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, morethan 1,700 people have ended their life by jumping from the bridgeinto the icy waters below.  After climbing over a smallrailing,  it takes jumpers just four seconds to hit the waterat a speed of 80 miles per hour.  The Golden Gate Bridge isthe number one suicide destination in the United States.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dean Corll was a 33-year-old electrician living in Houston, Texas, who with two teen accomplices was responsible for kidnapping, torturing, raping and murdering at least 28 young boys in Houston in the early 1970s. The Houston Mass Murders, as the case was later called, became one of the most horrific series of murders in U.S. history.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, John Wayne Gacy faced an abusive childhood and conflict over his sexuality. After being convicted of sexual assault in 1968, it was discovered that he had gone on to kill 33 young males, burying most under his home. He was found guilty in 1980 and given multiple death penalty and life sentences.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1931, two white women stepped from a box car in Paint Rock, Alabama to make a shocking accusation: they had been raped by nine black teenagers on the train. So began one of the most significant legal fights of the twentieth century. The trial of the nine falsely accused teens would draw North and South into their sharpest conflict since the Civil War, yield two momentous Supreme Court decisions and give birth to the Civil Rights Movement.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned a small general store and inn in Osage township, Labette County, Kansas from 1872 to 1873. The inn was a dingy place called the Wayside Inn. Guest would check in but they never checked out.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A serial killer who murdered six people in New York City in 1976–77, David Berkowitz’s crimes plunged the city into a panic and unleashed one of the largest manhunts in New York history. Known as Son of Sam, Berkowitz was arrested on August 10, 1977, 11 days after his last murder, and was sentenced to 365 years in prison.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Known as the "The Sunday Morning Slasher" Carl Eugene Watts is believed to have been responsibile for more than 100 brutal murders between 1974 and 1982.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Born in West Virginia in 1953, Bobby Joe Long endured a troubled childhood. He had an unusal relationship with his mother that lead him to develop a deep hatered for woman.  In the early 1980s, he raped at least 50 women after using newspaper ads to find victims. In 1984, Long began an eight-month killing spree that left 10 women dead.     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sam Cooke was a trailblazing song writer and recording artist in the 1950s and 1960s. Cooke helped shape the soul and pop scene with hits like "You Send Me," "Chain Gang" and "Twistin' the Night Away".  Sam started to sing professionally at the age of six. By the time he was in his twenties he was a music superstar.  That all came to a tragic end in December 1964 when Cooke, at age 33, was murdered in a seedy Los Angeles motel. Many questions regarding his death remain unanswered to this day.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.