Synodus Horrenda

In this new series we look at the history of blood feuds, starting with an obscure and scattered story from the era of Anglo-Saxon England, and a series of killings between two family lines that took place over 60 years of political upheaval, warfare and conquest, with cameo appearances from Macbeth and Lady Godiva.   Our primary source for this episode is "Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England" by Richard Fletcher   For the intro on the Regulator-Moderator War, our primary source was this article from the Texas State Historical Association: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/regulator-moderator-war   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering monthly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode we conclude our series on shipwrecks by looking at the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, a US Navy cruiser sunk by a Japanese submarine near the end of World War II. The nearly 900 survivors of the sinking were left adrift for days with no food or water, combating the elements and massing of sharks that picked them off one by one. Our primary source for this episode is "In Harms Way" by Doug Stanton   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering monthly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

For our annual Christmas Eve ghost story, a reading of Edith Wharton's classic short story, "The Eyes," first published in 1910.

In this episode we look at the sinking of the Lusitania, a British passenger liner that was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing over a thousand people, including 128 Americans, and helping move the then neutral United States toward joining the Allied powers.    Sources for this episode are: "Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy" by Diana Preston   https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/february/truth-about-tonkin   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering monthly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode we look at one of the most famous shipwrecks in world history: The sinking of the Titanic. An event layered in myth, melodrama and sentimentality, it captured the attention of the world and led to vast changes in international shipping. However, the event is much more political, more troubling and more relevant to today than it is often given credit for. The primary sources for the episode are: "Titanic: End of a Dream" by Wyn Craig Wade "The Story of the Titanic as Told By Its Survivors" edited by Jack Winocour   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering monthly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode we look at the mystery of the Mary Celeste, a merchant ship that in 1872 was found having been abandoned for over a week floating in the Atlantic ocean, all who had been aboard it missing for no reason that anyone could discover, the ship still in good working order. We'll look at the history of the ship both before and after this incident, as well as how the mystery reverberated through history, the legend expanding and growing over time. Our primary source for this episode is "Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew" by Brian Hicks Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode we look at the wreck of the Essex, a whaling ship out of Nantucket that in 1820 was attacked by a giant sperm whale in the Pacific and sunk, leaving its 20 man crew drifting on three whaleboats thousands of miles from land. The journey they took is a terrifying story of the limits of human survival, and became an inspiration for Herman Melville's novel 1851 novel "Moby Dick." Our primary sources for this episode are: "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathan Philbrick "The Loss of the Whale Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale: First Person Accounts" by Owen Chase, Thomas Nickerson and others Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode, the first of a six part series on the history of shipwrecks, we look at one of the most famous shipwrecks of the 19th century. In 1816 a French frigate called the Medusa, through the poor leadership of its captain, struck a sandbank in route the Senegal. Without enough lifeboats, 147 passengers were put on a makeshift raft that was soon cut loose while the rest of the passengers fled. Left floating for almost two weeks, the raft of the Medusa became a tale of the terrible cost of survival and had ramifications through France's political world, and inspired one of the world's most famous paintings. Our primary source for this episode was "The Wreck of the Medusa" by Jonathan Mills. Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode, the first in an occasional series on the executions and executioners, we look at the issue of botched executions, instances when the normal procedure of a state execution goes tragically, sometimes gruesomely wrong. Through this we look through a brief history of executions, from beheadings to modern lethal injections. Sources for this episode include the follow: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/05/mary-fallin-is-responsible-for-clayton-locketts-botched-execution-the-oklahoma-governor-wanted-his-death.html https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Execution_of_John_Louis_Evans_May_4,_1983:_First_Person_Account https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/us/ledell-lee-dna-testing-arkansas.html https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21518906/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/12/13/The-execution-early-Tuesday-of-Raymond-Landry-was-interrupted/4883597992400/   Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In the final entry for our series on unsolved serial killer cases, we look at the Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area with a string of killings from 1968-69 and then for years after with disturbing letters sent to the local press.  Our primary sources for this episode were: "Zodiac" by Robert Graysmith www.zodiackiller.com http://www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In the second part of our look at unsolved serial killings, we head back to the Great Depression to look at the Cleveland Torso Murders, a series of twelve murders committed by a man who left dismembered bodies all over the city. We'll look at how the killings strained the city government terrified the populace and led local law enforcement to deadly extremes. Our primary sources for this episode were: "In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders" by James Jessen Badal "Werewolves in Lore and Legend" by Montague Summers  Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this episode we start a new three part series about unsolved serial killings. We begin with one of the most famous unsolved crimes in the Western world, the Jack the Ripper killings. Beginning in August of 1888, the murders would go on to become one of the first serial killer cases to cause a media frenzy, one that would terrify and obsess people the world over.Our primary source for this episode was "The Complete Jack the Ripper" by Donald Rumbelow.Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In the conclusion of our series on the deaths of tyrants, we look at one of the strangest and most fascinating figures of the last century, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya from 1969 when he lead a coup that overthrew the country's monarchy, to his death in 2011 as his country descended into civil war. Our primary sources for this episode were: "Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi" by Alison Pargeter"The Green Book" by Muammar GaddafiMusic in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In our new Christmas Eve tradition, I present a reading of ghost story, this one from Canadian novelist Robertson Davies, entitled "Revelation From a Smoky Fire." You can find it in his collection "High Spirits," which collects the stories he wrote to read at the annual Christmas celebrations for Massey College at the University of Toronto.

In our second episode in our series about the deaths of tyrants, we look at the death of Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union after consolidating power following the death of Lenin and was soon one of the most powerful and influential men on earth. In this episode we look at his last moments, the live of his family and associates, and how his death changed the direction of the Soviet Union.Our primary sources for this episode were:"The Last Day of Stalin" by Joshua Rubenstein"Stalin: The Court of the Red Czar" by Simon Sebag MontefioreMusic in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In this new series of three episodes, we look at the lives and deaths of tyrants, starting here with the life of the Emperor Nero, the last member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a man who's name has become synonymous with despotism. I'll be looking at how the popular perception of Nero brushes over the complexity of his character, and I'll be looking at the bloody, backstabbing milieu he was brought up in.Our primary source of the episodes is "Nero" by Edward Champlin.Here is the primary source for the intro: https://www.damninteresting.com/the-tyrant-clipperton-island/Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/

In the final episode on our series about deaths that changed history, we look at the life of 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy. In office for only 1,036 days before his assassination on November 22nd, 1963, he oversaw some of the most momentous events in 20th century US history. We look at his life, career, and how his death might have changed the direction of the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam and the Cold War.Our primary source for this episode is "An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963" by Robert Dallek.This episode includes a track from The Veiled Creature called "Synondus Horrenda," inspired by the podcast, which will appear at the end of the show. You can support the artist at thevieldcreature.bandcamp.comOther music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

Continuing our series on deaths that changed history, we look at the death of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and one of the most fascinating religious figures in American history. We'll follow his life from a New England that swarmed with tent revivals and utopian preachers to persecution in Missouri, the rise of the church for a small handful to thousands of follows, and finally to his death at the hands of a mob at the jailhouse in Carthage, Illinois.My primary source for this episode is "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn M. Brodie.Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

We now begin a new series about deaths that changed history by happening when they did, and look at lives that could have changed history had they gone on just a little longer. In this first episode, I'll be telling the story of Julian the Apostate, the last non-Christian ruler of Rome, and a man who seemed determined to push back the tide of Christian ascendency in the West until his life was cut short less than two years into his reign.My primary source for this episode is "The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World" by Adrian Murdoch. Special thanks to Michael Duncan of "The History of Rome" and the "Revolutions" podcasts for the recommendation.Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In the last part of our series on deaths stemming from mass hysteria, we look at the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, a violent riot that led to the systematic destruction to one of the only wealthy black communities in the country by a mob of angry white people. With a death toll likely close to 300 and the better part of 35 square blocks of a neighborhood razed to the ground, it was one of the most violent acts of mob violence in American history. My primary source for this episode was "The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921" by Tim Madigan. Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In this episode we look at the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903, two days of looting, rape and murder directed at the Jewish community of an agricultural city in the western part of the Russian empire. The carnage of the even shocked the world and led to an outpouring of support for the victims, but also caused darker and more sinister ripples through world culture. My primary source for this episode was "Pogroms: Kishinev and the Tilt of History" by Steven J. Zipperstein. For the intro I used the article "Spring-Heeled Jack: To Victorian Bugaboo from Suburban Ghost" published in "Fortean Studies No. 3" (1996) Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In this first part of a three part series about deaths caused in mass hysteria, I look at the most famous act of mass panic in American history, the Salem Witch Trials. Lasting through most of 1692 and into 1693 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the trials were set off when two young girls, the daughter and niece of a minister, began throwing fits and claiming to be bewitched. From there a mass panic grew that would eventually lead to 19 executions, as well as other dying in prison or under torture. But the conditions that led to this hysteria numerous, and the story is much more than one of the many moral tales it's been turned into.The primary source for this episode was "A Storm of Witchcraft" by Emerson W. Baker.Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In this episode I look at works of art created when famous artists attempted to paint after the death of a spouse. First we look at Rembrandt, whose wife Saskia died of tuberculosis in 1647 at the height of his career, which then went into a humiliating downslide from which he never recovered. Then we look at Claude Monet, who's wife Camille died in 1879 when his own career was already at its nadir. Sources for this episode"Rembrandt: A Life" by Charles L. Mee Jr."The Private Lives of the Impressionists" by Sue RoeMusic in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod 

In this episode I look at the panic over premature burial that inflamed Western culture from the mid-1700s all through the 19th century. We'll look at the waiting mortuaries of the German states, where bodies were sent to wait until putrification set in just in case the revived, the creation of "security coffins" to protect against being buried alive, and how the fear manifested in different ways in different counties.Our primary source for this episode is "Buried Alive" by Jan Bondeson. The following articles were also used:https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153726http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/03/strange-life-death-of-washington-irving.htmlMusic in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In the second of our two-part series looking at people who profited from bodies, I look at the life of Herman Webster Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes, a swindler, bigamist, quack doctor and murderer who operated mostly around Chicago in the 1880s and 90s. In this episode we look both at the legend of H.H. Holmes and the actual life of H.H. Holmes and find two very different stories.The primary source for this episode is "H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil" by Adam Selzer.The following articles were also used:https://www.pcmag.com/news/heres-how-much-your-identity-goes-for-on-the-dark-webhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/07/man-faked-his-death-his-ex-wife-faked-his-funeral-then-their-son-found-him-alive/Music for this episode is courtesy of musopen.org.You can follow us on twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram and SynodusHorrendaPod. You can support the show on Patreon, where for $5 a month you will received access to monthly bonus episodes.

In the next two episode I look at stories of people who made profit off of corpses. We start here with the story of Burke & Hare, a pair of Irish emigres to Scotland who in 1828 began a string of 16 murders, all done for the purpose of selling the corpses to a local anatomy lecturer. We'll look at two men's history and the social and economic forces that created the environment they thrived in.Our primary source for this episode is "Burke & Hare" by Owen Dudley Edwards.The following series of articles, a look into the modern body trade, was also used:https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-bodies/Music for this episode is courtesy of musopen.org.You can follow us on twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram and SynodusHorrendaPod. You can support the show on Patreon, where for $5 a month you will received access to monthly bonus episodes.

In the second and final part of our series about death revealing secrets, we look at the murder of Bob Crane, who in the 1960s was a popular sitcom star, but by 1978 was working the dinner theater circuit while going through his second divorce. When he was found bludgeoned to death in an Arizona apartment, it opened to the public a world of sexual obsession that had only barely been hidden behind a facade of charm and wholesomeness.The primary source for this episode is "The Murder of Bob Crane" by Robert Graysmith. Other sources include:https://americanart.si.edu/artist/james-hampton-2052https://psmag.com/social-justice/cracking-code-james-hamptons-private-language-96278Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In the next two episodes, I look at stories about deaths that revealed secrets. In this episode we'll look at the story of Chung Ling Soo, billed as the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer," one of the most famous magicians in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. I'll also look at his origins as a white American named William Robinson, and how his untimely death led a web of secrets, lies, and illusions to finally fall apart.The primary source for this episode is "The Glorious Deception," by Jim Steinmeyer.Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In this episode I look at two paintings that depict murders and executions, both born of moments of revolution. The first is Jaques-Louis David's "The Death of Marat." The second is Francisco Goya's "Third of May, 1808." I'll be looking at the history of these paintings, the men who painted them and the people and moments they depict.Sources for this episode include:Evan S. Connell, "Francisco Goya: A Life"Gregory Fremont-Barnes, "Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760-1815"https://www.jacqueslouisdavid.org/biography.htmlMusic for this episode is courtesy of musopen.org.You can follow us on twitter at @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. You can support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to free monthly bonus episodes.  

In this episode I'll be looking at our relationship with animal life, and different ways the deaths of animals have affected our history and culture. We'll be looking at a macabre massacre of stray cats at an 18th century Paris print shop, the execution of an elephant, and the first animals to cross the bounds into outer space.Our primary sources for this episode include:"The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History" by Robert Darnton"Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked-Tailed Elephant, P. T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison" by Michael Dalyhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sad-story-laika-space-dog-and-her-one-way-trip-orbit-1-180968728/ Music is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can support the show on Patreon, where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. You can follow us on twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In this episode, the conclusion of our three-part series on deaths that led to social change, I look at the 1966 clocktower shooting at the University of Texas in Austin, and the life of its perpetrator, Charles Whitman. One of the earliest mass shootings in America, it introduced a new kind of violence into American life. Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org and archive.org. Our primary source for this episode is "The Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders" but Gary Lavergne. Other sources:https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1016&context=cus_pubshttps://www.gunviolencearchive.org/You can support the show on Patreon, where for $5 a month you will receive monthly bonus episodes. The first of these has already been released, "The Murder of Charles Bravo." You can follow us on Twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod

In the second part of our three-part episode on deaths that caused larger social changes, I look at the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, and how the cultural fallout from the case led to new areas of psychological research and eventually the creation of the 911 system. But among the myths and political ramifications of the murder we find more than one tragic story.Our primary source for this episode is "Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder" by Catherine Pelonero. Here are a couple of articles that also were used:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/nyregion/winston-moseley-81-killer-of-kitty-genovese-dies-in-prison.htmlhttps://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/obsonline/a-new-look-at-the-killing-of-kitty-genovese-the-science-of-false-confessions.htmlAll music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.orgYou can follow the podcast on Twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. You can support the podcast on Patreon where for $5 a month you will receive access monthly bonus episodes.

In the next three episodes I'll be exploring deaths that led to larger social changes. Here in part one I take a look at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and how it became the catalyst for a major reform movement in worker's rights and building safety, but also how the path to those changes wasn't easy, or guaranteed. Our primary source for this episode is "Triangle: The Fire that Changed America" by David Von Drehle.You can follow the podcast on Twitter at SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. You can support the podcast on Patreon where for $5 a month you will receive access monthly bonus episodes, which will start being released this month.

In this introductory episode I examine three stories: Phineas Gage, Pam Reynolds and Terri Schiavo. I'll be exploring the borderlands between life and death, looking at what actually makes us alive and how as a society we parse out the fine line between living and merely being alive. Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org.Please support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you'll receive access to monthly bonus episodes.Bibliography:Phineas Gage:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114479/Pam Reynolds:https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104397005https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-science-of-near-death-experiences/386231/Terri Schiavo:"The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life" edited by Arthur L Caplan, James J. McCartney, and Dominic A. Sisti