Fresh Hell Podcast

While Johanna recovers from surgery and Annie does her best to prevent her from immediately returning to work, we're bringing you another trip into the Fresh Hell archives.

This week features condensed versions of two of our most heartbreaking cases, both were originally released as two-part episodes.

First, we travel to Ashland, Kentucky in 1881, where a horrific crime on Christmas Eve left an entire community grieving and searching for answers. The Ashland Tragedy became one of the most sensational cases of its era, complete with false accusations, mob justice, and many questions, that remain debated and unanswered nearly 150 years later.

Then we move to California in 2000 for the murder of fifteen-year-old Nicholas Markowitz. What begins as a petty dispute over a drug debt turns into a senseless tragedy that shocked the nation and inspired the film Alpha Dog. 

As always, these are streamlined versions of the original stories. If you'd like all the details, historical context, side tangents, and moments where Annie and Johanna become increasingly frustrated with humanity, the full episodes are waiting for you in our archive.

Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault of minors, child murder, kidnapping, and violence against children.
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This week, we’re doing something a little different. We teamed up with Horrifying History for a feed swap, which means we’re sharing one of their episodes with you. And you know is: this one is absolute Victorian nightmare fuel.

In this episode, host Brenda Ganske explores the horrifying world of Britain’s baby farming industry, a system that preyed on vulnerable women and led to neglect, abuse, and murder on a shocking scale. It’s a dark and heartbreaking story.

We know you all enjoy the darker historical side of Fresh Hell, so there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Horrifying History as well. 
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The Hitler Diaries are finally exposed as fake, and the fallout is spectacular!

In the fourth and final part of our series, we talk about the collapse of the biggest media scandal in postwar Germany. What did the BKA find? What was the so called “Folternacht” inside Stern headquarters? And what happened to the Carin II.?
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Stern is now spending millions, historians are cautiously warning them, and Konrad Kujau is sitting at home frantically producing more and more volumes while simultaneously convincing everyone that this all makes perfect sense.

What could possibly go wrong?
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Gerd Heidemann follows up on the supposed Hitler diaries and finally meets the man behind them. Money starts changing hands in ways that should probably raise a few questions.
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