Podcast appearances and mentions of Karen Abbott

At the height of the Great Depression, an oil mogul from LA decided to escape society with his mistress to create their own utopia on a faraway land. The problems started with other people following them there. My friend, Abbott Kahler, is my guest today. She used to write under the name: Karen Abbott. Abbott tells me the story at the center of her book: Eden Undone A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II.  Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3zukETh   See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com   Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspod (Facebook) / @tenfoldmorewicked (Instagram)   2024 All Rights Reserved  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textThe 1904 Olympic Marathon has been described as many things-- "unbelievable", "crazy", "racist"... This week, Janey is going to dive headfirst into the wild stories that make us question everything we know to be true about marathon running (for example-- how much rat poison is too much rat poison while running 25 miles?) We'll find out together! Enjoy! Sources“How the 1904 Marathon Became One of the Weirdest Olympic Events of All Time” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine  “The Barely Believable Life of Andarín Carvajal” by Liam Boylen-Pett for Lope Magazine  “The Unbelievable True Story of the Craziest Olympic Marathon” by Ashwin Rodrigues for Runners World  Andarín Carvajal wikipedia  Support the showCheck out our books (and support local bookstores!) on our Bookshop.org affiliate account!Starting your own podcast with your very cool best friend? Try hosting on Buzzsprout (and get a $20 Amazon gift card!)Want more??Visit our website!Join our Patreon!Shop the merch at TeePublic!If you liked these stories, let us know on our various socials!InstagramTiktokGoodreadsAnd email us at sortofthestory@gmail.com

Darkness Syndicate members get the ad-free version with all artwork created for the YouTube and podcast thumbnails:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mr2d82p8IN THIS EPISODE: Harry Houdini may have been one of the world's greatest magicians – but he was also the biggest debunker of magic when it came to the supernatural. (Houdini vs. Spiritualism) *** There are strong women. There are formidable ladies. There are tough cookies. There are female baddies. And then there is “Stagecoach” Mary Fields, who was surely in a class all her own.  (The Ballad of Stagecoach Mary) *** Dozens of creepy stories and urban legends have sprouted up along America's most legendary highway. We look at some of the horrifying things people have experienced on Route 66. (Terrors of Route 66) *** It was one of the wildest and wickedest of all Wild West towns… and now it's one of the most haunted. Jerome, Arizona is considered the most haunted town in the state – possibly in all of the United States. (The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona) *** Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that “it was common delusion”. We'll look at the rise of Spiritualism – and the two sisters that started it all. (The Fox Sisters)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = First Story Preview and Show Open00:03:59.162 = The Fox Sisters00:18:42.506 = Houdini and Spiritualism00:32:57.515 = Stagecoach Mary00:40:57.094 = Horrors of Route 6600:52:52.398 = The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona01:06:05.362 = Show CloseSOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…“The Fox Sisters” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/ycexng3f“Houdini Vs. Spiritualism” by Maggie Clancy for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/tqqb7et“Stagecoach Mary” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/sejae2n“Horrors of Route 66” by Jacoby Bancroft for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/qt9kz53“The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona” by Patrick Thornton for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/szaksnfWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library= = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: February 04, 2020CUSTOM LANDING PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/route66

Today, Abbott Kahler (Where You End) discusses the true story that inspired her novel, how her writing process changed as she pivoted from nonfiction to fiction, outlining, the unique world of twins, working with her longtime group of readers, starting all over, and more! Abbott Kahler, formerly writing as Karen Abbott, is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City; American Rose; Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy; and The Ghosts of Eden Park, which was an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime and a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Her next nonfiction book, Then Came the Devil, is forthcoming in 2025. She is also the host of Remus: The Mad Bootleg King, a forthcoming podcast from iHeartRadio about legendary Jazz Age bootlegger George Remus. A native of Philadelphia, she lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York, where she is at work on her next novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1927: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Abbot Kahler, author of WHERE YOU END, about writing unnerving literature for unnerving timesAbbott Kahler (formerly Karen Abbott) is the author of four New York Times bestselling works of narrative nonfiction. A search for an ancestor who went missing in 1905 led her to write Sin in the Second City, which tells the true story of two sisters who ran the world's most famous brothel and the nationwide battle to shut them down. Her interest in Gypsy Rose Lee, the subject of American Rose, stems from stories her grandmother shared about the ecdysiast's performances in the 1930s and 40s. Liar Temptress Soldier Spy was inspired by a six-year stint in Atlanta, where the ghosts of the Civil War still seem omnipresent. The HBO show Boardwalk Empire introduced her to bootlegger George Remus, the subject of The Ghosts of Eden Park and a character much more fascinating than Al Capone. Then Came the Devil, her next nonfiction book, is by far the most outrageous story she's ever encountered. Her debut novel, Where You End, is inspired by a true story of identical twins and amnesia, and will be out next January. USA Today once named her “a pioneer of sizzle history.” Abbott's books have featured as Indie Next picks, Amazon's best books of the year, Library Journal's best books of the year, and Smithsonian Magazine's best history books of the year. She has also been a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Goodreads book award for history, and the Ohioana Book Awards, the second oldest state literary prize in the country. She has written for newyorker.com, New York Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC's "Making of the Mob,” the Discovery Channel, and other media outlets. Her books have been optioned for television and film, and her podcast about George Remus, REMUS: THE MAD BOOTLEG KING, is forthcoming from iHeartRadio. bAbbott is a native of Philadelphia, where she spent six years as a journalist, covering crime, advocating for abused women, and hanging out with mafia bosses and baseball wives. She lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York, where she's convinced her little bungalow is haunted. She appreciates a good poker hand, an old bottle of wine, and the never-ending hunt for new stories to tell. Read the strange story behind her name change here. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or sign up for her (monthly or so) Wicked History newsletter.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE LINK in your social media so others who loves strange and macabre stories can listen too: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/17467==========HOUR ONE: The movie “Orphan” was fictional horror… but ten years later it would happen for real in Lafayette Indiana. Or would it? There are this still questions about how old Natalia Grace really is. (Orphan Horror) *** There are strong women. There are formidable ladies. There are tough cookies. There are female baddies. And then there is “Stagecoach” Mary Fields, who was surely in a class all her own. (The Ballad of Stagecoach Mary) *** Six pirates were hung on the same day – that's what you get for being greedy! (Six Sailor Hanging)==========HOUR TWO: Dozens of creepy stories and urban legends have sprouted up along America's most legendary highway. We look at some of the horrifying things people have experienced on Route 66. (Terrors of Route 66) *** Harry Houdini may have been one of the world's greatest magicians – but he was also the biggest debunker of magic when it came to the supernatural. (Houdini vs. Spiritualism) *** Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that “it was common delusion”. We'll look at the rise of Spiritualism – and the two sisters that started it all. (The Fox Sisters)==========SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: It was one of the wildest and wickedest of all Wild West towns… and now it's one of the most haunted. Jerome, Arizona is considered the most haunted town in the state – possibly in all of the United States. (The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona)==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:“Orphan Horror”” by Ben Radford for Seeker: https://tinyurl.com/txtd4ap; and Ben Ashford at MSN https://tinyurl.com/ttox4k4“Stagecoach Mary” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/sejae2n“The Six Sailor Hanging” by Ed Sweeney for Slightly Odd Fitchburg: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8252rm“The Fox Sisters” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/ycexng3f “Houdini Vs. Spiritualism” by Maggie Clancy for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/tqqb7et “Horrors of Route 66” by Jacoby Bancroft for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/qt9kz53 “The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona” by Patrick Thornton for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/szaksnf==========Join the Weird Darkness Syndicate: https://weirddarkness.com//syndicate Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music Library, EpidemicSound and/or StoryBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ) Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and Nicolas Gasparini (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission of the artists.==========PODCASTS I HOST:Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/listenParanormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymagMicro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrorsRetro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradioChurch of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2023, Weird Darkness.====================This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3655291/advertisement

Joined today by TWO New York Times best-selling authors, Erik Larson and Abbott Kahler. Abbott and Erik share their story on how they met 20 years ago, what shocked them to learn about each other, and why they have stayed friends for such a long period of time. Abbott talks about why she changed her name at 40, if she is worried that her name change will affect her book sales, and why changing her first name to Abbott might actually help her non-fiction writing. We chat about Abboot working as a beat reporter in Philly, doing ride alongs, and the cattiness that are Philly sport fans. Abbott chats about her new upcoming podcast, the process with doing it and when it's dropping. We talk about her hit book "The Ghosts of Eden Park", why and when she became fascinated with George Remus, what he meant to prohibition, if he's the greatest bootlegger of all time, and the murder and the trial of the century. Erik and Abbott share about putting their boots to the ground and doing old fashion detective work when they research their books, why court transcripts are the greatest treasure to writing a non-fiction book, & why they travel to the locations they write about. We discuss the pressure of following up your New York Times best-selling books and how that relates to your next book, if they read reviews and how they interact with their fans. Abbott let's us know about her newest project "Then Came The Devil" about sex, murder, and utopia on the Galapagos Islands. Erik talks about what's going on with Hulu, Keanu Reeves, and if the "Devil in the White City" is coming to TV any time soon.  A few hot toddy's, a couple of Manhattans and we hear about weird first jobs, people getting fired, and the cleaning up of some disgusting things. From interviewing a young Kobe Bryant to having James Carville call your hotel room, all this plus much more https://abbottkahler.com/  https://eriklarsonbooks.com/

In 19th Century New York, everyone knew who to go to to end an unwanted pregnancy: the French-trained, sophisticated Madame Restell, who lived in a posh mansion on 5th Avenue. In reality, Madame Restell was English immigrant Ann Trow Lohman, and she had never even been to France, but she managed to combine medical skill with her carefully crafted public persona to become tremendously wealthy, while providing a much-needed service. As the legal landscape of the United States grew ever more conservative, Madame Restell did her best to evade the authorities, and then Anthony Comstock knocked on her door. Joining me this week to help us understand more about Madame Restell is historian and writer Jennifer Wright, author of Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is part of Twelve Pieces for piano, op. 40, No. 9, Valse in F-sharp minor, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1878, performed by Kevin McLeod, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is “The arrest of abortionist Ann Lohman (a.k.a. Madame Restell) by Anthony Comstock,” from the February 23, 1878, edition of the New York Illustrated Times; scanned from The Wickedest Woman in New York: Madame Restell, the Abortionist by Clifford Browder; available via Wikimedia Commons and in the public domain. Additional sources: “Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue,” by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine, November 27, 2012. “Life Story: Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a. Madame Restell (1812 - 1878),” Women and the American Story, New York Historical Society. “When 'The Wickedest Woman of New York' Lived on Fifth Avenue,” by Simon Scully, Mental Floss, October 2, 2020. “Madame Restell's Other Profession,” By Christopher Gray, The New York Times, October 10, 2013. “‘Sex and the Constitution': Anthony Comstock and the reign of the moralists,” by Geoffrey Stone, The Washington Post, March 23, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode sponsored by Genus Gardenwear  Joff Elphick takes his annual pilgrimage up to the big smoke where he visitis the old horticultural halls - now known as The Business Design Centre - to meet horticutlural businesses for The garden Press Event. He speaks to Simon for Hydrialife who tells us about his self contained award winning water fountain kit with rechargeable batteries and a programmable timer. Great for indoors or out. Kate from Capi-Europe has a great range of pots and water butts produced in a CO2 neutral factory and made completely from discarded fishing nets.  Karen Abbott is with Spear and Jackson a company with 260 years of experience producing garden tools. A long handled trowel, a pruning saw, a cape cod weeder, and a mini spade ideal for splitting perennials is new to their range for 2023. Adrian Bloom a well known name in the plant world is from bressingham gardens. His new book Foggy Bottom - a gardeners share will be available in september 2023. Old friends of the show Haws Watering Cans were at the show and Josh explained teir new concept in 'the art of watering'. He also explains the process and huge amount of work that goes into their British made cans. Sarah Gerard-Jones Is from The Plant Clinic. Sarah explains how her business saves plants, the potting medium, and the pots from going ito landfill through the use of her Pkant Rescue Boxes. It's an ingenious concept that is currently being trialled by The RHS at their centre in Wisley. Sean Kelly is from Fauna Bird a Dutch company that have worked with Tetra pak to come up with the technology to removed the plastic fim from inside cartons and then turn them into garden bird feeders. They also offer a complimentary range of bamboo and ceramic feeders and nest boxes. Tea Francis loves spiders so much she has them tatooed onto her body. Tea is an arachnologist who wants us to appreciate the role that spiders play in our homes and gardens.   

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have longed to continue to connect with loved ones who have passed on. In the 19th century, the wildly popular religious movement Spiritualism was created as "proof" that mortals here on earth could connect with those who have crossed over to the other side. https://nsac.org (National Spiritualist Association of Churches) https://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/the-automatic-hand-spiritualism-psychoanalysis-and-surrealism/ ("The Automatic Hand: Spiritualism, Psychoanalysis, and Surrealism" by Rachel Leah Thompson An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture ISSUE 33: (WINTER 2021)) https://www.whitehousehistory.org/seances-in-the-red-room ("Seances in the Red Room" White House Historical Association) https://exploringupstate.com/hydesville-memorial-park-and-the-fox-sisters-newark-ny/ (Hydesville Memorial Park and the Fox Sisters - Newark, NY - Exploring Upstate) https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44539462.pdf (News from the Spirit World: A Checklist of American Spiritualist Periodicals By ANNBRAUD E) https://www.getty.edu/news/the-man-who-photographed-ghosts/ ("A Supernatural Scammer In Getty's Collection" By Sarah Waldorf) https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion (Spiritualism | Britannica) https://victorianweb.org/victorian/religion/spirit.html (Victorian Spiritualism. Dr Andrzej Diniejko, D. Litt.; Contributing Editor, Poland The Victorian Web) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01515.x ("The Rise of 19th-Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873" by David K. Nartonis, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion ) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/why-did-so-many-victorians-try-to-speak-with-the-dead ("Why Did So Many Victorians Try to Speak with the Dead?" | The New Yorker) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697/ ("The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism." by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine) Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com Artwork: Brittany Schall Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod 2022 All Rights Reserved

Guess who's back? Back again! Amber's older sister, Naomi joins the show again.  This week, Amber tells the incredible survival story of Lenore. Lenore was working in a women's clothing boutique in Orangeville, Canada. It was he very first shift working alone when she is attacked by a "customer".  Amber pulled her sources from:  I Survived Season 9 Episode 3www.thestar.com “Dangerous offender status sought for man who viciously attacked female shopkeepers,” Peter Small, 5-30-2012 www.thestar.com, “Woman Critical After Orangeville Stabbing,” Precious Yutangco, 7-12-2009 www.insauga.com “Mississauga man who attacked two women in 2009 denied parole,” Gene Pereira, 3-10-2021www.shoporangeville.com “Creek Side Clothing Co” Then Naomi tells us all about the first time the Olympic Games came to the United States and the cast of characters that ran the opening Marathon event.   Naomi pulled her sources from:  www.smithsonianmag.com, “The 1904 Olympic Marathon May Have Been the Strangest Ever,” Karen Abbott, 8-7-2012 www.runnersworld.com, “The Unbelievable True Story of the Craziest Olympic Marathon,” Ashwin Rodrigues, 8-6-2021 www.wikipedia.org “Marathons at the Olympics” www.wikipedia.org “Louisiana Purchase” www.penn.museum “The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games,”  Amber was drinking  Matt Parish Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa ValleyNaomi is a Co-Founder and Producer at neon media. You can follow her work at https://www.neonmedia.ioYou can also follow her on Twitter @MissGnomersTo sign up for Buzzsprout and to support our show, follow the link below:https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1303834    

Whether she is going by Abbott Kahler or Karen Abbott, she is a great interview. Abbott joins the podcast to let us know why her name changed, all about her upcoming works, and we dive into her previous (and amazing) books like The Ghosts of Eden Park. This was a lot of fun. Come listen!Check out Abbott's websiteBuy her books here

During the Golden Age of Pirates, two fierce and ruthless pirates stood apart from the rest, despite their brief careers. The only women in their crew, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were aggressive fighters to the end, refusing to surrender even when their captain called for quarter.   Joining me to discuss Anne Bonny and Mary Read is pirate expert Dr. Rebecca Simon, author of the new book, Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode audio is “Pirate Song,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry F. Gilbert; and performed by Reinald Werrenrath in July 1925; the audio is in the public domain. The episode image is an illustration of Anne Bonny and Mary Read from the 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates; the image is in the Public Domain and available through the Internet Archive.  Additional Sources: “If There's a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read,” by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine, August 9, 2011. “How Anne Bonny and Mary Read Changed The Face Of Female Piracy,” by Katie Serena, All That's Interesting, February 20, 2018; Updated May 24, 2021. “How Two 18th-Century Lady Pirates Became BFFs on the High Seas,” by Hadley Meares, Atlas Obscura, September 9, 2015. “The Female Pirates, Anne Bonny & Mary Read,” by Rebecca Simon, May 23, 2022. “Female pirate lovers whose story was ignored by male historians immortalised with statue,” by Maya Oppenheim, The Independent, November 19, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karen Abbott (aka Abbott Kahler), author of 'Ghosts of Eden Park' joins Jason to discuss the book in question (which is regarding the history of George Remus and Mabel Walker Willebrandt and bootlegging during the prohibition era), her research and writing process, and upcoming projects.    ...as usual, have a seat, have a pour, and listen in. Unless you're driving. If you're driving, be smart and stay sober but be sure to listen into the conversation! Special thanks to: - Weigh Down for allowing us to use their song "Wooden Monsters" as our theme song - Moana McAuliffe for designing our Podcast Logo - RØDE for making *really* great microphones - Focusrite for making awesome USB receivers - Olympus and Tascam for making fine mobile recording devices - Joshua Hatton for producing and editing

“THE HORRORS OF ROUTE 66” and More True Paranormal And Unbelievable Stories! #WeirdDarknessIN THIS EPISODE: Harry Houdini may have been one of the world's greatest magicians – but he was also the biggest debunker of magic when it came to the supernatural. (Houdini vs. Spiritualism) *** There are strong women. There are formidable ladies. There are tough cookies. There are female baddies. And then there is “Stagecoach” Mary Fields, who was surely in a class all her own.  (The Ballad of Stagecoach Mary) *** Dozens of creepy stories and urban legends have sprouted up along America's most legendary highway. We look at some of the horrifying things people have experienced on Route 66. (Terrors of Route 66) *** It was one of the wildest and wickedest of all Wild West towns… and now it's one of the most haunted. Jerome, Arizona is considered the most haunted town in the state – possibly in all of the United States. (The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona) *** Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that “it was common delusion”. We'll look at the rise of Spiritualism – and the two sisters that started it all. (The Fox Sisters)(Dark Archives episode with stories from February 04, 2020)SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…“Allegedly” podcast hosted by Darren Marlar: http://AllegedlyTrueCrime.com or search for ALLEGEDLY (by Voyage Media) wherever you listen to podcasts!“The Fox Sisters” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/ycexng3f “Houdini Vs. Spiritualism” by Maggie Clancy for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/tqqb7et “Stagecoach Mary” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/sejae2n “Horrors of Route 66” by Jacoby Bancroft for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/qt9kz53 “The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona” by Patrick Thornton for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/szaksnf Subscribe to the podcast by searching for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts – or use this RSS feed link: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3655291/episodes/feed.Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music, EpidemicSound and/or AudioBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ), Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and/or Nicolas Gasparini/Myuu (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46Visit the Church of the Undead: http://undead.church/ Find out how to escape eternal darkness at https://weirddarkness.com/eternaldarkness Trademark, Weird Darkness ®. Copyright, Weird Darkness ©.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =00:04:10.579, 00:31:50.901, 00:51:47.936,

Presenting: a return – devoid of need to reenact via one-man traveling show and possessed of requisite contributions from parrots and dogchildren – to socialization with New York Times best-selling author (as Karen Abbott) of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, and THE GHOSTS OF EDEN PARK, Abbott Kahler.In which: we discuss her first (professional) foray into fiction with WHERE YOU END, working titles, the process of forming a blueprint via 200+-page outlines (for the upcoming THEN CAME THE DEVIL) to harness the proliferation of weird across the page, living vicariously through characters you'd better find fascinating for four+ years, milk, cookies, ferociousness, convention-defying, and knowing upon whose blood you're stepping. ABBOTT'S BIO: Abbott Kahler is, as Karen Abbott, the New York Time-bestselling author of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, and THE GHOSTS OF EDEN PARK. She has written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC's "Making of the Mob," the Travel Channel's "Monumental Mysteries," and the Discovery Channel. Both her next work of narrative non-fiction, THEN CAME THE DEVIL, and her debut novel, WHERE YOU END, will be her first books published as Abbott Kahler.CHapters00:00 - Introduction01:40 - "When I was a kid... I would write fanciful stories about murderous witches and various nefarious characters... "04:41 - "Am I going to be paralyzed by all this freedom or am I going to be liberated by all this freedom? I think it was a little bit of both."10:10 - "It's very telling when people have a bit of mystery around them"12:27 - "I was actually the last journalist to speak with June before she passed away... I'm speaking of her in the present tense because I feel like she's still here."15:27 - "This is the first time I'm doing something this extensive... when the weirdness comes up, I really want the weirdness to hit... 17:42 - "I did outline the novel because I don't know any better... (but) I like the idea of starting with a character and seeing where she might take me." 19:57 - "I contemplate keeping (Karen Abbott) for nonfiction... I can't have my nonfiction on two different shelves... the changing of the name was a personal choice that would eventually spill over into my professional life..."22:50 - "What you choose, how you choose to tell these stories... I think that nonfiction can say just about an author as fiction does."24:50 - "All the characters I've written about... are women whose lives I wish I had lived."27:30 - "You need to like to communicate with your characters – whether they're figments of your imagination or whether they're dead people you're trying to bring back to some kind of life on the page – you don't have to like them, but you have to find them interesting."30:15 - "I fought to have this accepted for seven years...”33:30 - "The way that we're taught history... is the completely wrong approach: there were people, there was blood, there was sweat, there were tears... History is a soap opera."35:33 - Where can people connect with you? 36:26 - ConclusionLinkageAbbott's website – and story of the name change.The weird starts on page one: THEN CAME THE DEVIL prologue.Though we didn't get a chance to talk about it, Abbott's stunning essay, HOW SARAH GRUEN LOST HER LIFE about her friend, the author Sarah Gruen and Gruen's all-consuming efforts to free a wrongly-convicted man from prison, is a must read. You should also peruse Abbott's Wicked History blog for more of her insights into the soap opera that is history.You can reach her via email, abbottauthor(AT)gmail(DOT)com.+++Theme music, INTERSECTIONS, by Uziel Colon; all rights reserved.You can keep up with my latest socializations via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast app; earlier episodes live here.

Es ist Mitte September und wir bei Sur/real eröffnen die spooky season! Diese Folge dreht sich um Geisterbeschwörung, Séancen und drei besondere Schwestern. Leah, Maggie und Kate Fox haben mit den Geistern über Klopfgeräusche kommuniziert. Wie sie ihre besonderen Fähigkeiten entwickelt haben, ein ereignisreiches Leben führten und sich schließlich selbst sabotierten, das alles erzählen wir euch in dieser Folge des bizarren Podcasts. P.S. In vier Wochen sind wir wieder mit einer neuen Folge Sur/real für euch da! Wer bis dahin mehr von uns sehen möchte, Ihr findet uns hier: Instagram @surrealderpodcast Facebook @surrealderpodcast Lasst uns gerne Feedback da, nutzt hierzu die Podcast Plattform eurer Wahl, unsere Social Media Kanäle oder schreibt uns eine Mail an connect@surreal-podcast.com! Show Notes: The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism, Smithsonian Mag-Artikel von Karen Abbott,30. Oktober 2021 (englisch) The Fox Sisters: Spiritualism's Unlikely Founders, American History Magazine-Artikel von Nancy Rubin Stuart, August 2005 Issue (englisch) Kontakt ins Jenseits: Worauf du achten solltest, wenn du mit Geistern sprechen willst, Refinery 29-Artikel von Sara Coughlin und Seda Taptik, 8. Julii 2020 Saints, Sinners and Reformers. The Burned-Over District Re-Visited, Blog-Artikel (The Crooked Lake Review) von John H. Martin, Herbst 2005 (englisch) The Follies and Frauds of Spiritualism, von Walter Mann, London 1919, S. 9 –24

Since Covid arrived in March 2020, Fiji has been hit bad in many different ways. With no tourists & borders closed, people have been out of work for 18 months. With the last outbreak of the Delta Variant in April 2021, families have been in lockdown for 6 months & our Fijian Families need our help. FijiOz HAVE 2 * 40ft CONTAINERS READY TO GO OVER AND WE ARE NOW RAISING MONEY TO GET THE BOXES OVER ASAP.   We interviewed Karen Abbott from the Fiji Oz Foundation about this important work.

Scotty & Ruttsy interviewed Karen Abbott about her Fiji Oz Foundation assisting Fijians in need with medical equipment, clothing, maternity needs and sports equipment. We played Covid-lotto, discussed the German Tourette's Youtube star, Russians not taking a pee, Golf champs hitting fans, Air Taxi's, the Rubber Chicken Relay, Police VR training & QR code tattoo's amongst other things. We are missing playing golf so we played two golf songs – That Golf Song by Duff Daddy & Hit It Hard by John Daly.

Abbott Kahler is the author of four books of historical narrative nonfiction. More recently, though, she wrote the story “How Sara Gruen Lost Her Life.” It was published simultaneously by New York magazine and the Marshall Project. The piece is about how Gruen, the famed author of “Water for Elephants,” was left broke and seriously ill after fighting for six years to free an incarcerated man who she thought was innocent. Kahler and Gruen are close friends. Kahler says it was cathartic for Gruen to talk about what she had been through. The story got a lot of traction when it was published on March 24, giving more attention to the case of Charles Murdoch, the man Gruen is trying to free. This was definitely a different type of writing and reporting for Kahler. She’s made a name for herself as a New York Times best-selling author of historical narrative nonfiction. She’s done so under the name of Karen Abbott, although she legally changed her name in 2020, and will now write as Abbott Kahler. Her first book, “Sin in the Second City,” is about two sisters who ran a famous brothel in Chicago in the early 1900s. Her book “Liar Temptress Soldier Spy” is about four women who worked undercover during the Civil War. Her most recent book, “The Ghosts of Eden Park,” is about a bootleg king in Cincinnati and a shocking murder in 1927. It was an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime book. Kahler has written for the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and other publications. She also maintains the Wicked History Blog, which presents old photos and short reported pieces that describe the photos.

If you are a book lover, you are probably also a library lover. Those two things just go together, like peanut butter and jelly or Sherlock and Watson. Some book lovers not only visit their local libraries all the time, but they also visit libraries when they travel. Carrie, for example, checked out Maison de la litterature in Quebec City when she visited several years ago. It is cool to see what libraries in other places look and feel like. Closer to home, there is a membership library in Cincinnati Ohio that would be well worth a stop if you find yourself in the Queen City. Our guest this week, Amy Hunter, is the programs and marketing manager at The Mercantile Library, one of only about 18 surviving membership libraries around the country. She gives a crash course in membership libraries that were invented by Benjamin Franklin before the rise of public libraries at the turn of the 20th century. Amy talks to us about the unique history of the Mercantile library including some of the interesting rules that were imposed back at its inception in 1835, about the wide variety of speakers they have hosted from Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1800s all the way to Margaret Atwood just a few years ago, and why many people consider the Mercantile a “steampunk” fantasy in library form. Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- Charlotte's Web/Stuart Little by E. B. White 2- Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 3- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 4- Sweet Taste of Liberty by W. Caleb McDaniel 5- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld 6- Heavy by Kiese Lemon 7- Silver Sparrow/American Marriage by Tayari Jones 8- TigerLand by Will Haygood 9- The Book of Delights by Ross Gay 10- Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley 11- Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel by Ann Youngson 12- The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott

If you are a book lover, you are probably also a library lover. Those two things just go together, like peanut butter and jelly or Sherlock and Watson. Some book lovers not only visit their local libraries all the time, but they also visit libraries when they travel. Carrie, for example, checked out Maison de la litterature in Quebec City when she visited several years ago. It is cool to see what libraries in other places look and feel like. Closer to home, there is a membership library in Cincinnati Ohio that would be well worth a stop if you find yourself in the Queen City. Our guest this week, Amy Hunter, is the programs and marketing manager at The Mercantile Library, one of only about 18 surviving membership libraries around the country. She gives a crash course in membership libraries that were invented by Benjamin Franklin before the rise of public libraries at the turn of the 20th century. Amy talks to us about the unique history of the Mercantile library including some of the interesting rules that were imposed back at its inception in 1835, about the wide variety of speakers they have hosted from Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1800s all the way to Margaret Atwood just a few years ago, and why many people consider the Mercantile a “steampunk” fantasy in library form. Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- Charlotte's Web/Stuart Little by E. B. White 2- Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 3- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 4- Sweet Taste of Liberty by W. Caleb McDaniel 5- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld 6- Heavy by Kiese Lemon 7- Silver Sparrow/American Marriage by Tayari Jones 8- TigerLand by Will Haygood 9- The Book of Delights by Ross Gay 10- Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley 11- Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel by Ann Youngson 12- The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott

In this very special episode; Heather is joined by yet another author! This time, the author is Charlotte Bismuth who is a former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and she describes her new book: Bad Medicine: Catching New York’s Deadliest Pill Pusher – which hits shelves everywhere, on January 19, 2021From 2010 to 2014, Bismuth and her team followed a trail of bodies and money to Dr. Stan Li, who was selling prescriptions for controlled substances out of a basement clinic in Flushing, Queens. The case against Dr. Li was unusual. He was particularly callous and displayed ruthless greed in profiting from the opioid epidemic, handing out numbered tickets to the opioid-addicted patients who traveled far to buy his prescriptions.BAD MEDICINE tells the story of the opioid epidemic through the investigation and trial of one doctor, who embodied the callousness and greed of the pharmaceutical companies. It is a call for justice that is particularly relevant as the number of opioid deaths continues to grow. Beth Macy, Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Gerald Posner, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Patricia McCormick, Nan Goldin, Karen Abbott and others have praised the book: “It will leave you fuming … at the complicity of American regulators and politicians, and the Big Pharma machine that lines their pockets;” “The story will leave readers angry, informed, and most importantly inspired to seek justice and change;” “A gripping read tailor-made for the silver screen.” GET YOUR COPY HERE:Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781982116422 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Medicine-Catching-Deadliest-Pusher/dp/1982116420/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1580312889&refinements=p_27%3ACharlotte%20Bismuth&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Charlotte%20Bismuth Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bad-medicine-charlotte-bismuth/1136270430?ean=9781982116422#/ Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/bad-medicine-catching-new-york-s-deadliest-pill-pusher/9781982116422 FedUp Coalition FedUp – coalition of organizations from across the country, founded by parents who have lost their children to overdoses.Find Charlotte:https://www.charlottebismuth.com Twitter: @CEBismuthInstagram: @_charlotte_b_

In 1931, a 93-year-old widow was discovered to be hoarding great wealth in New York's Herald Square Hotel. Her death touched off an inquiry that revealed a glittering past -- and a great secret. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast, we'll tell the story of Ida Wood, which has been called "one of the most sensational inheritance cases in American history." We'll also revisit the Candy Bomber and puzzle over some excessive travel. Intro: Lyndon Johnson's family shared initials. In 1915, Arthur Guiterman sparred with Arthur Conan Doyle over Sherlock Holmes' antecedents. Sources for our feature on Ida Wood: Joseph A. Cox, The Recluse of Herald Square: The Mystery of Ida E. Wood, 1964. Robert H. Sitkoff and Jesse Dukeminier, Wills, Trusts, and Estates, 10th edition, 2017. Renee M. Winters, The Hoarding Impulse: Suffocation of the Soul, 2015. John V. Orth, "'The Laughing Heir': What's So Funny?", Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal 48:2 (Fall 2013), 321-326. St. Clair McKelway, "Annals of Law: The Rich Recluse of Herald Square," New Yorker, Oct. 24, 1953. Karen Abbott, "Everything Was Fake but Her Wealth," smithsonianmag.com, Jan. 23, 2013. Phil Gustafson, "Who'll Pick up the Pieces?", Nation's Business 38:3 (March 1950), 56. LJ Charleston, "The Story of the Rich New York Socialite Who Hid in a Hotel Room for 24 Years," news.com.au, July 29, 2019. Frank McNally, "Fascinating Ida," Irish Times, Oct. 17, 2019. "Hibernian Chronicle: The Mayfield Mystery Solved," Irish Echo, Feb. 17, 2011. Joseph A. Cox, "She Hid Her Wealth -- And a Strange Past," Australian Women's Weekly, July 6, 1966, 28. Peter Lyon, "Mrs. Wood's Rubbish Pile," New York Times, Oct. 4, 1964. "Finds Heirs, Gets $30,000," New York Times, July 2, 1941. "Meets Ida Wood 'Heirs'," New York Times, March 6, 1938. "Ida Wood Estate Hearing Dec. 20," New York Times, Nov. 18, 1937. "Fortune Fight Bares Name Hoax," Associated Press, Sept. 16, 1937. "406 Claimants Out as Ida Wood Heirs," New York Times, Sept. 1, 1937. "She Carried a Fortune Around Her Waist," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 5, 1936, 59. "$92,293 Estate Left by Mrs. F.E. Whistler," New York Times, Dec. 14, 1932. "Reports Locating Ida Wood's Heirs," Associated Press, Dec. 7, 1932. "Mrs. Ida Wood Dies at 93 of Pneumonia," New York Times, March 13, 1932. "Recluse to Seek 'Rest of Money,'" [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, Oct. 14, 1931. "Old Lady's Kin Vie at Law for Her Fortune," Associated Press, Oct. 13, 1931. "Benjamin Wood Dead," New-York Tribune, Feb. 22, 1900. Listener mail: Cathy Free, "World War II-Era 'Candy Bomber' Turns 100. Those Who Caught His Candy -- Now in Their 80s -- Say Thanks," Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2020. Lee Benson, "As Utah's Candy Bomber Turns 100, His Sweet Story Remains Timeless," Deseret News, Oct 4, 2020. "Gov. Gary Herbert Declares October 10th as Gail S. Halvorsen Recognition Day," Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, Oct. 10, 2020. Safe-T-Pull. "Safe-T-Pull™ Pro -- Muddy Sugar Beet Harvest," (video), Safe-T-Pull, Jan. 21, 2014. "Will cold temperatures damage my refrigerator," Garage Journal, March 2, 2012. "What to Wear in the Winter Conditions," Hôtel de Glace (accessed Dec. 25, 2020). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was devised by Greg. Here's a corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Review of Liar Temptress Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, by Karen Abbott

It's the second half of our Wonder Woman episode! Join us for a discussion of suffragettes, women warriors, and more! Sources: Suffragettes: Camila Ruz & Justin Parkinson, "'Suffrajitsu': How the suffragettes fought back using martial arts," BBC News Magazine (October, 2015) https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34425615 Karen Abbott, ""The Hatpin Peril" Terrorized Men Who Couldn't Handle the 20th-Century Woman" Smithsonian Magazine (24 April 2014) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hatpin-peril-terrorized-men-who-couldnt-handle-20th-century-woman-180951219/ Tao Tao Holmes, "The Suffragettes Who Learned Martial Arts to Fight for Votes," Atlas Obscura (3 November 2015) https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/suffrajitsu Drunk History "Suffragettes Learn to Fight with "Suffrajitsu"" https://youtu.be/n38bf7c82Pc https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/keydates/ Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, "Suffragettes and the Black Friday protests: 18 November 1910" The National Archives https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/suffragettes-and-the-black-friday-protests-18-november-1910/ Bios: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garrett_anderson_elizabeth.shtml http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item124196.html https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ger-harding-womens-suffrage-1.3425155 http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/sophia-duleep-singh Alwyn Collinson, "How Black Friday changed the Suffragette struggle" Museum of London (14 November 2018) https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/black-friday Hints to the Ladies on Jiu-Jitsu (1926) British Film Institute National Archive https://youtu.be/tpDmcxOSuas Women Warriors: Alexandra Kralick, "Skeletal Studies Show That Sex, Like Gender, Exists Along a Spectrum," Discover Magazine, available at https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/skeletal-studies-show-sex-like-gender-exists-along-a-spectrum Holly Norton, "How the Viking Female Warrior Was Written Out of History," The Guardian, Available at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/15/how-the-female-viking-warrior-was-written-out-of-history Meilan Solly, "Researchers Reaffirm that Remains in Viking Warrior Tomb Belonged to a Woman," Smithsonian Magazine, available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-reaffirm-famed-ancient-viking-warrior-was-biologically-female-180971541/ Valeri Guliaev, "Amazons in the Scythia: New Finds at the Middle Don, Southern Russia," World Archaeology 35, 1 (2003) Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, 2016

A large, middle-class family experienced a house fire on Christmas morning of 1945 in which five of their ten children perished.  Lots of speculation and concern for what may have really happened to these kids have surrounded the story for many years.  Spotlight West Virginia.  Arts and Culture.  Kristin.  Winter 2015.  Page 39.  https://kriswritesstuff.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/swv-sodder-2.jpg The Children Who Went Up in Smoke.  A Tragic Christmas Mystery Remains Unsolved More than 60 Years After the Disappearance of Five Young Siblings.  Karen Abbott.  Smithsonian Magazine.  December 25, 2012.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-children-who-went-up-in-smoke-172429802/ Remember the Bone-Chilling Story of the Missing Sodder Children.  Gavin Alexander.  October 2, 2019.  https://www.ststworld.com/remembering-the-missing-sodder-children/ Their Fate:  Kidnapped-Murdered or Are They Still Alive?  Adelina Lancianese.  November 6th, 2016.  https://www.timeswv.com/news/their-fate-kidnapped-murdered-or-are-they-still-alive/article_be5920fe-a3f1-11e6-a3fc-43908d62effb.html Sodder Mystery Holds National Appeal, Continues to Baffle Community.  Sarah Plummer.  Register Herald.  January 28th, 2016.  https://www.register-herald.com/news/sodder-mystery-holds-national-appeal-continues-to-baffle-community/article_2c6a06ad-e788-5e1b-a3cf-6e6fe65061f8.html Baffling Christmas Mystery:  What Happened to the Sodder Children.  Nathan Jolly.  NZ Herald.  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12182500 Certificate of Death for Maurice A. Sodder.  http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/images/billboard_maurice_death_cert_cropped.jpg Certificate of Death for Louis Sodder.  https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forensicgenealogy.info%2Fimages%2Fbillboard_louis_death_cert_cropped.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forensicgenealogy.info%2Fcontest_386_results.html&tbnid=oo0l1WH__k8Z6M&vet=10CKoBEDMoTGoXChMIoMyg6Lm16gIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEBg..i&docid=l_JbbLVK1WetsM&w=1683&h=1451&q=The%20Sodder%20Children&ved=0CKoBEDMoTGoXChMIoMyg6Lm16gIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEBg Louis Sodder Photo Message.  https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F7155%2F44de5cf27000d375439ab0e03cb9e1e06d75cd5ar1-1029-597v2_hq.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Faminoapps.com%2Fc%2Fconspiracytheory%2Fpage%2Fblog%2Fthe-sodder-children%2Fj0Vq_8W7hKu8PbmGBrpX8GKBvG741XkPQZZ&tbnid=wPNvqfZGvnLmbM&vet=10CL4BEDMovwFqFwoTCKDMoOi5teoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAX..i&docid=V2FnXJSxGlS_2M&w=1024&h=594&q=The%20Sodder%20Children&ved=0CL4BEDMovwFqFwoTCKDMoOi5teoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAX

Who invented the term, "to get laid"? New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott reveals this and other lurid secrets of US history -- including the most luxurious brothel of the Gilded Age, the birth of burlesque in Depression-era New York and the sordid Prohibition sex-murder scandal that inspired "The Great Gatsby."

We’re asking a lot of questions during this Urban Legends episode. Would you adopt a ghost kid? Which is scarier, corporeal or incorporeal? And can you predict the weather with PopTarts? Tune in to hear those age old questions and more! Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of train crashes, robbery, potential child endangerment, and hurricanes/blizzards/storms.    Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott! Buy a copy and see our new lists of previous recommendations, guest books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books - Multitude: Listen to Meddling Adults by joining the MultiCrew at multicrew.club, and check out Next Stop in your podcast player or nextstopshow.com!   Sponsors - Doordash is a fast, convenient food delivery app. Get $5 off your first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter CREEPY at checkout. - Honeybook, a purpose-built business management platform for creative small businesses. Get 50% off your first year on HoneyBook.com/SPIRITS. - Shaker and Spoon, the subscription cocktail service that turns your house into the craft cocktail bar of your dreams. Get $20 off at shakerandspoon.com/spirits   Find Us Online If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at spiritspodcast.com/books. Transcripts are available at spiritspodcast.com/episodes. To buy merch, hear us on other podcasts, contact us, find our mailing address, or download our press kit, head on over to SpiritsPodcast.com.   About Us Spirits was created by Julia Schifini, Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Schneider. We are founding members of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio. Our music is "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

It was February of 1917, and 18-year-old Ruth Cruger was missing. Her family panicked. They called the police. But detectives didn’t seem too concerned. They assured the family that Ruth would come back. And if she didn’t? Well, Ruth was probably… on the prowl. The Crugers were offended by the implication, and incensed that the police weren’t taking them seriously. Months went by. Despite a credible suspect, the case went cold. So the Crugers did the only thing they could think to do. They hired a courageous, tenacious attorney named Grace Humiston. By the end of the saga, Grace would be dubbed, ‘Mrs. Sherlock Holmes.’  Then Brandi tells us about a shocking event that bystanders initially wrote off as a joke. It was the day before Halloween, in 1985, at the Springfield Mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania. A woman approached the mall wearing fatigues. She carried a gun. Most people thought she was in costume. Then she fired her very real weapon. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes Takes on the NYPD” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Mag “Missing in Action” By David Krajicek for the New York Daily News  The “Mrs. Sherlock Homes” episode of Criminal, where Brad Ricca is interviewed for his book, “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The true story of New York city’s greatest female detective and the 1917 missing girl case that captivated a nation” “Cocchi implicated in police grafting,” New York Herald June 23, 1917 “Buried Truth,” by Joseph McNamara for The Daily News “Cocchi says his wife killed girl,” Daily News June 26, 1919 In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Sylvia Seegrist: Guilty But Insane” by Katherine Ramsland, The Crime Library “Sylvia Seegrist went psycho and killed three innocent people at the Springfield, Pa., mall” by Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News “Decades After Sylvia Seegrist, Mentally Ill People Are Still Murdering Innocents” by Victor Fiorillo, Philadelphia Magazine “Sylvia Seegrist”http://wikipedia.org  

It didn't take much for the Chalk Boys to get excited about talking about a bootlegger who once controlled more than 60 percent of the liquor in the United States' during the prohibition era -- not to mention the murder that transpired in Eden Park in Cincinnati. Remus is thought to be the inspiration of F. Scott Fitzgerald's character, Jay Gatsby. In this podcast, Doc and Noah start the season off right with NYT best selling author, Karen Abbott discussing her book, Ghosts of Eden Park.  

“THE HORRORS OF ROUTE 66” and More True Paranormal And Unbelievable Stories! #WeirdDarknessIf you’re already a Weirdo family member, please share the podcast with your friends and family on social media, email, and text to invite them to give it a listen! *** Tired of commercials interrupting your listening experience? For just $5 per month you can listen to all past, present, and future #WeirdDarkness episodes commercial-free – plus BONUS AUDIO and news about the podcast! Learn more at: http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/WEIRDO.IN THIS EPISODE: Harry Houdini may have been one of the world’s greatest magicians – but he was also the biggest debunker of magic when it came to the supernatural. (Houdini vs. Spiritualism) *** There are strong women. There are formidable ladies. There are tough cookies. There are female baddies. And then there is “Stagecoach” Mary Fields, who was surely in a class all her own.  (The Ballad of Stagecoach Mary) *** Dozens of creepy stories and urban legends have sprouted up along America's most legendary highway. We look at some of the horrifying things people have experienced on Route 66. (Terrors of Route 66) *** It was one of the wildest and wickedest of all Wild West towns… and now it’s one of the most haunted. Jerome, Arizona is considered the most haunted town in the state – possibly in all of the United States. (The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona) *** Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that “it was common delusion”. We’ll look at the rise of Spiritualism – and the two sisters that started it all. (The Fox Sisters)MENTIONED LINKS IN THE EPISODE…Video interview on “Rockford Buzz” Facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/r59pqnr “Pujol the Farting Artist” (bonus audio for patrons): https://www.patreon.com/posts/33742339 “Terrifying True Stories of Graveyard Workers” episode: http://weirddarkness.com/archives/5430 “A Summer of Werewolves” episode: http://weirddarkness.com/archives/5391 "The True Story Of Natalia Grace: How The Film 'Orphan'...” episode: http://weirddarkness.com/archives/5565 SUPPORT THE PODCAST…Become a PATRON (Official Weirdo): http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/WEIRDO Leave Your Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/weirddarkness Visit my sponsors: http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/sponsors STORY AND MUSIC CREDITS/SOURCES…(Note: Over time links can and may become invalid, disappear, or have different content.)“The Fox Sisters” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/ycexng3f “Houdini Vs. Spiritualism” by Maggie Clancy for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/tqqb7et “Stagecoach Mary” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/sejae2n “Horrors of Route 66” by Jacoby Bancroft for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/qt9kz53 “The Haunting of Jerome, Arizona” by Patrick Thornton for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/szaksnf Weird Darkness opening and closing theme by Alibi Music Library. Weird Darkness secondary theme by Manuel Marino. Weird@Work music bed by Audioblocks. Background music provided by EpidemicSound and AudioBlocks with paid license. Music by Shadows Symphony (http://bit.ly/2W6N1xJ), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ), and Nicolas Gasparini/Myuu (http://bit.ly/2LykK0g) used with permission. MY RECORDING TOOLS…* MICROPHONE (Neumann TLM103): http://amzn.to/2if01CL* POP FILTER (AW-BM700): http://amzn.to/2zRIIyK* XLR CABLE (Mogami Gold Studio): http://amzn.to/2yZXJeD * MICROPHONE PRE-AMP (Icicle): http://amzn.to/2vLqLzg * SOFTWARE (Adobe Audition): http://amzn.to/2vLqI6E * HARDWARE (iMac Pro): https://amzn.to/2suZGkA I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use. If I somehow overlooked doing that for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I’ll rectify it the show notes as quickly as possible.***WeirdDarkness™ - is a trademark and creation of of Marlar House Productions. Copyright © Marlar House Productions, 2020."I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46 *** How to escape eternal darkness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IYmodFKDaM

This week we share the heartbreaking case of five children who (may have) disappeared after a tragic house fire on Christmas Day 1945. Sources: Smithsonian Magazine; 12/25/2012 Karen Abbott https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-children-who-went-up-in-smoke-172429802/ Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodder_children_disappearance

As the Civil War fractured Washington D.C., socialite Rose O'Neal Greenhow coordinated a vital spy ring to funnel information to the Confederates. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe one of the war's most unlikely spies, and her determination to aid the South. We'll also fragment the queen's birthday and puzzle over a paid game of pinball. Intro: German officer Ernst Jünger likened the sounds of World War I shelling to "being menaced by a man swinging a heavy hammer." Bowdoin College compiled a list of odd how-to titles. NOTE: After this episode was originally released, some listeners objected to our handling of Greenhow's story, saying that we were treating her too sympathetically when she was defending the institution of slavery. They're entirely right about that -- I had focused on her personal story without being sensitive to its larger implications. I'm very sorry for that oversight. We're presenting the story here as it originally ran, and we'll discuss listeners' reactions to it in Episode 279. -- Greg Sources for our feature: Ann Blackman, Wild Rose: Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy, 2006. Ishbel Ross, Rebel Rose: Life of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Confederate Spy, 1954. Karen Abbott, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, 2014. Rose O'Neal Greenhow, My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington, 1863. H. Donald Winkler, Stealing Secrets: How a Few Daring Women Deceived Generals, Impacted Battles, and Altered the Course of the Civil War, 2010. Michael J. Sulick, Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War, 2014. Allan Pinkerton, The Spy of the Rebellion, 1886. John Bakeless, Spies of the Confederacy, 2011. Ernest B. Furgurson, "The End of Illusions," Smithsonian 42:4 (July/August 2011), 56-64. Jack Finnegan, "Professional Results for an Amateur," Military History, suppl. "Spies and Secret Missions: A History of American Espionage" (2002), 34-35. Nancy B. Samuelson, "Employment of Female Spies in the American Civil War," Minerva 7:3 (Dec. 31, 1989), 57. "Seized Correspondence of Rose O'Neal Greenhow," U.S. National Archives (accessed Nov. 24, 2019). Rose O'Neal Greenhow Papers, Special Collections Library, Duke University. "The Wild Rose of Washington," New York Times, Aug. 22, 2011. "Spy Loved, Died in Line of Duty," [Wilmington, N.C] Morning Star, Dec. 31, 1999, 23. "Civil War Day by Day," Washington [D.C.] Herald, Sept. 30, 1914, 4. "Fair Southern Spies," [Savannah, Ga.] Morning News, Sept. 29, 1896, 5. "Blockade Running," [Winston, N.C.] Western Sentinel, Jan. 14, 1886. "A Rich New Year's Gift," Yorkville [S.C.] Enquirer, Feb. 6, 1862, 1. "The Female Traitors in Washington," New York Herald, Jan. 22, 1862, 2. "Mrs. Greenhow's Indignant Letter to Mr. Seward," New York Herald, Dec. 16, 1861, 4. Phyllis F. Field, "Greenhow, Rose O'Neal," American National Biography, February 2000. Listener mail: "Public Holidays in Western Australia," Government of Western Australia Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (accessed Nov. 27, 2019). Wikipedia, "Oscar Wilde" (accessed Nov. 27, 2019). Howard Markel, "No, Oscar Wilde Probably Didn't Die of Syphilis," PBS NewsHour, Nov. 30, 2015. Jon Henley, "Wilde Gets Revenge on Wallpaper," Guardian, Dec. 1, 2000. "What Are the Best Last Words Ever?", Atlantic 317:4 (April 2016), 13. "Grand Lakes St. Marys Educational Series: History of GLSM What You Don't Know," Lake Improvement Association (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). "Grand Lake St. Marys State Park: History," Ohio State Parks and Watercraft (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). Lew Powell, "Behind the Lines, Fighting Malaria With Whiskey," North Carolina Miscellany, July 10, 2011. Wikipedia, "Gin and Tonic" (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). Wikipedia, "Tonic Water" (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). "'The Book of Gin' Distills a Spirited History," Morning Edition, National Public Radio, Dec. 28, 2012. Kal Raustiala, "The Imperial Cocktail," Slate, Aug. 28, 2013. "The Largest Human-Made Lakes in the World," WorldAtlas (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). Wikipedia, "Lake Kariba" (accessed Nov. 30, 2019). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was inspired by an item heard on the podcast No Such Thing as a Fish. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1902, scam artist Cassie Chadwick convinced an Ohio lawyer that she was the illegitimate daughter of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. She parlayed this reputation into a life of unthinkable extravagance -- until her debts came due. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Chadwick's efforts to maintain the ruse -- and how she hoped to get away with it. We'll also encounter a haunted tomb and puzzle over an exonerated merchant. Intro: Inventor Otis L. Boucher offered a steel suit for soldiers during World War I. The tippe top leaps up onto its stem when spun. Sources for our feature on Cassie Chadwick: Kerry Segrave, Women Swindlers in America, 1860-1920, 2014. Alan F. Dutka, Misfortune on Cleveland's Millionaires' Row, 2015. George C. Kohn, The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal, 2001. William Henry Theobald, Defrauding the Government: True Tales of Smuggling, From the Note-book of a Confidential Agent of the United States Treasury, 1908. Karen Abbott, "The High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance," Smithsonian.com, June 27, 2012. "Chadwick, Cassie L.," Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (accessed Oct. 20, 2019). Lindsay Kernohan, "Cassie Chadwick: A Very Double Life," Strathroy [Ontario] Age Dispatch, May 17, 2018, A7. Sadie Stein, "Impostors Among Us," Town and Country, February 2017. "Top 10 Imposters," Time, May 26, 2009. "Mrs. Chadwick Measured," Poughkeepsie Journal, Dec. 30, 2004, C.1. "Femme Fatale," D&B Reports 40:4 (July/August 1992), 47. "Cassie Chadwick's Jewels," The Bankers Magazine 106:3 (March 1923), 551. Arthur B. Reeve, "New and Old South Sea Bubbles," World's Work 41:1 (November 1920), 31-35. C.P. Connolly, "Marvelous Cassie Chadwick," McClure's Magazine 48:1 (November 1916), 9-11, 65-71. Walter Prichard Eaton, "The Gullible Rich," Munsey's Magazine 46:3 (December 1911), 335-340. "Cassie Chadwick Fretted Life Away in Ohio Prison," Cañon City [Colo.] Record 30:42 (October 17, 1907), 12. "Cassie Chadwick Dies in Prison," New York Times, Oct. 11, 1907. "Mrs. Chadwick Broken Down," Chickasha [Indian Territory] Daily Express, Feb. 19, 1907. "Mrs. Chadwick's Sentence," New York Times, March 28, 1905. "Carnegie Sees Note; Laughs at Bad Spelling of Chadwick Trust Agreement," New York Times, March 6, 1905. "Mr. Carnegie on Hand for Chadwick Trial," New York Times, March 5, 1905. "Chadwick Indictments," New York Times, Feb. 22, 1905. "Motion to Quash," St. John Daily Sun, Feb. 28, 1905. "Tracing Chadwick Satchel," New York Times, Dec. 22, 1904. "Nearly Collapsed in Court," [Fredericksburg, Va.] Daily Star, Dec. 19, 1904. "Meeting Dramatic," Associated Press, Dec. 16, 1904. "Chadwick Paper Out Is Over $19,000,000," New York Times, Dec. 11, 1904. "Trail of Mrs. Chadwick," Carroll [Iowa] Herald, Dec. 7, 1904. Listener mail: C.H. Shanan, "The Haunted Tomb," Wide World Magazine 35:207 (July 1915), 281-285. (Listener Peter Atwood found this story through the podcast Reading, Short and Deep, Episode 188.) Wikipedia, "The Wide World Magazine" (accessed Oct. 26, 2019). "The Wide World Magazine," The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia (accessed Oct. 23, 2019). "Biography: The Boer War," The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia (accessed Oct. 23, 2019). Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Arthur Conan Doyle" (accessed Oct. 23, 2019). "Govt Mulling Over 1400-km Long Great 'Green Wall' to Tackle Land Desertification," News 18 India, Oct. 9, 2019. Vishwa Mohan, "Government Plans 1,400km Long Great 'Green Wall' of India," Times of India, Oct. 9, 2019. Aryn Baker, "Can a 4,815-Mile Wall of Trees Help Curb Climate Change in Africa?", Time, Sept. 12, 2019. Tony Hoare, "Null References: The Billion Dollar Mistake," QCon 2009. Wikipedia, "Tony Hoare" (accessed Oct. 23, 2019). The Chambers Dictionary. Chambers' 500 entertaining words. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was devised by Greg. Here's a corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Karen Abbott is a best-selling and respected writer of historical non-fiction. Her previous efforts are Sin in the Second City, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.Today, we'll be talking about her latest, The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America, which is published by Crown

October 24, 2019 at the Boston Athenæum. In the early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quit practicing law and started trafficking whiskey. Within two years he was a multi-millionaire. The press called him “King of the Bootleggers,” writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, hosted at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand-new Pontiacs for the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States. Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt was determined to bring him down. Willebrandt’s bosses at the Justice Department hired her right out of law school, assuming she would pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintained with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatched her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It was a decision with deadly consequences. With the fledgling FBI on the case, Remus was quickly imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act. With her husband behind bars, Imogene began an affair with investigator Dodge. Together, they plotted to ruin Remus, which sparked a bitter feud that soon reached the highest levels of government–and ended in murder. Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, The Ghosts of Eden Park is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur and a long-forgotten heroine, of the excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human capacity to deceive.

On October 10, 2019, Karen Abbott will deliver a Banner Lecture entitled, “The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America.” In the early days of Prohibition, a German immigrant named George Remus quit practicing law and started trafficking whiskey. Within two years he was a multi-millionaire. The press called him “King of the Bootleggers,” writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States. Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt was determined to bring him down. Willebrandt’s bosses at the U.S. Attorney’s office hired her right out of law school, assuming she’d pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatched her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into Remus’s empire. It’s a decision with deadly consequences. Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, "The Ghosts of Eden Park" is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur and a long-forgotten heroine, of the excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human capacity to deceive. Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of "Sin in the Second City"; "American Rose"; "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy," named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and the Christian Science Monitor; and, most recently, "The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz- Age America."

The modern Olympics started in 1896 and St. Louis held the third Olympic games in 1904 concurrently with the World Fair and it was a hot mess.  Sources: “Much Wenlock” by Ben Johnson “8 Unusual Facts about the 1904 St. Louis Olympics” by Evan Andrews Britannica “St. Louis 1904 Olympic Games” “Remembering the Anthropology Days at the 1904 Olympics” by Nate Dimeo “The 1904 Olympic Marathon May Have Been the Strangest Ever” by Karen Abbott

In this episode Matt Crawford speaks to New York Times best selling author Karen Abbott about her book The Ghosts of Eden Park. This is the true story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and that is probably the tamest detail in the entire book. Better than fiction because it is true this book is simply impossible to put down. Please listen to the interview and then go and treat yourself and buy this book!

George Remus could never have conceived of the idea of edible "whisky capsules," but if he had, the "King of the Bootleggers" would have figured out a way to make money from it. Remus made - and lost - a fortune during Prohibition, spent time in prison, shot his second wife to death, and managed to successfully convince a jury to acquit him by reason of insanity. This real-life Gatsby is the subject of author Karen Abbott's new book, "The Ghosts of Eden Park," and it may well be the definitive telling of the George Remus story. Karen Abbott joins us on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and we'll also have tasting notes for one of the modern Bourbons named for Remus. There's a lot to talk about in the news, as the U.S. plans to impose a 25% tariff on imports of single malt whiskies from Scotland and Northern Ireland later this month as part of a 15-year-long trade dispute with Europe. We'll have reaction from both sides of the Atlantic and explain just what's being targeted, what's not...and why. We'll also have details on the week's new whiskies and get to the bottom of the story behind The Glenlivet's controversial "whisky capsules" unveiled at London Cocktail Week. Editor's note: This episode includes content that may not be suitable for all audiences. 

Michael Malloy was one tough dude. He was also an out-of-work alcoholic who didn’t have many friends or family. But his apparent poor health and social isolation made him the ideal target for a murderous scheme. A group of sketchy men, later dubbed the “Murder Trust,” took out life insurance policies on Michael. They figured he’d die from alcoholism and they’d cash in. And if they sped up the dying process … who would be the wiser? They tried, and tried, and tried to kill Michael Malloy. Each time, Michael survived, and their attempts got more brazen.  Then Brandi tells us about Ellie Nesler. In the summer of 1988, Ellie’s 7-year-old son, Willie Nesler, begged her to send him to summer camp. Ellie was hesitant, but she took comfort knowing that her friend, Daniel Mark Driver, would be working at the camp that summer. But when Willie returned from camp, something was off. He was withdrawn. He eventually told his aunt that he’d been molested by Daniel. Ellie was determined to make things right. But when the justice system revealed its flaws, Ellie took justice into her own hands.   And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “The Man Who Wouldn’t Die” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine “The Durable Mike Malloy” New York Daily News “Doctor on stand denies covering insurance death,” The Daily News “Death certificate of durable Mike convicts doctor,” The Daily News “Four hear doom; ‘Nice day — for some,’ says one,” The Daily News “Officers of murder trust are executed,” by James Cannon for I. N. Service “Four convicted of hard-to-kill Malloy murder,” the Times Union “Four go to chair after five attempts at murder,” by Max Haines for The Ottawa Citizen “Try four as deliberate murderers to get victim’s insurance,” Chicago Tribune “Death demanded for four in $1,800 risk plot murder,” The Daily News In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “William Nesler Still a Fugitive” The Associated Press, CBSNews “Accused Molester is Killed in Court” The Associated Press, The New York Times “Ellie Nesler killed son’s accused molester in courtroom shooting” The Associated Press, The Denver Post “Ellie Nesler: Woman and Myth” by Charles Schwab, SFGate “Woman Gets 10 Years For Killing Son’s Alleged Molester” by Nancy Mayer, The Associate Press “Lasting Effects of Child Molestation” Oprah.com        

Mike spoke with Karen Abbott, author of The Ghosts of Eden Park. You can pick up the book at your local bookstore or even Amazon. Patrice breaks down the markets and Beer Dave stops by.

A crafty bootlegger ranking in millions, corrupt feds, early feminists and flappers are the things that made HBO's Boardwalk Empire a hit. Karen Abbott's new books is all that plus the real-life murder trial that gripped jazz-age America.

Rick ends the night with author Karen Abbott about her writing styles and latest book, The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America.  You can find a copy of The Ghosts of Eden Park at Barnes & Noble, Audible, and Amazon. For more […]

My guest is Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of "Sin in the Second City", "American Rose", and "Liar, Temptress, Soldier. Spy".  She discusses her new book, "The Ghosts of Eden Park", and the wild story of George Remus, the most powerful bootlegger in early Prohibition-era America. It's a roller-coaster tale - his rise, his fall, and the  strange love triangle he shared with wife Imogene and Prohibition Agent Franklin Dodge, which would ultimately drive him to such rage that he would shoot her dead and face a sensational trial.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1903, French physicist Prosper-René Blondlot decided he had discovered a new form of radiation. But the mysterious rays had some exceedingly odd properties, and scientists in other countries had trouble seeing them at all. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of N-rays, a cautionary tale of self-deception. We'll also recount another appalling marathon and puzzle over a worthless package. Intro: In the 1960s, two dolphins at Hawaii's Sea Life Park were inadvertently switched and performed each other's acts. Franz Bibfeldt is an invisible scholar at the University of Chicago divinity school. Sources for our feature on Prosper-René Blondlot and the N-rays: René Blondlot, Julien François, and William Garcin, "N" Rays: A Collection of Papers Communicated to the Academy of Sciences, With Additional Notes and Instructions for the Construction of Phosphorescent Screens, 1905. William Seabrook, Doctor Wood, 1941. Walter Gratzer, The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-Deception, and Human Frailty, 2001. Terence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, 2003. Richard C. Brown, Are Science and Mathematics Socially Constructed?, 2009. Robert W. Proctor and E.J. Capaldi, Psychology of Science: Implicit and Explicit Processes, 2012. Paul Collins, Banvard's Folly, 2015. Roelf Bolt, The Encyclopaedia of Liars and Deceivers, 2014. Walter Gratzer and Walter Bruno Gratzer, Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes, 2004. Robert W. Wood, How to Tell the Birds From the Flowers, 1907. Robert W. Wood, "The n-Rays," Nature 70:1822 (1904), 530-531. Mary Jo Nye, "N-Rays: An Episode in the History and Psychology of Science," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 11:1 (1980), 125-156. Robert T. Lagemann, "New Light on Old Rays: N Rays," American Journal of Physics 45:281 (1977), 281-284. Irving M. Klotz, "The N-ray Affair," Scientific American 242:5 (1980), 168-175. John Butler Burke, "The Blondlot n-Rays," Nature 70 (June 30, 1904), 198. John Butler Burke, "The Blondlot n-Rays," Nature 69 (Feb. 18, 1904), 365. Jeffrey Kovac, "Reverence and Ethics in Science," Science and Engineering Ethics 19:3 (September 2013), 745-56. Nancy S. Hall, "The Key Role of Replication in Science," Chronicle of Higher Education 47:11 (Nov. 10, 2000), B14. "The Blondlot Rays," British Medical Journal 1:2245 (Jan. 9, 1904), 90. "The Romance of the Blondlot Rays," British Medical Journal 1:2244 (Jan. 2, 1904), 35-36. "Blondlot and Prof. Wood on the N-Rays," Scientific American 91:25 (Dec. 17, 1904), 426. Malcolm Ashmore, "The Theatre of the Blind: Starring a Promethean Prankster, a Phoney Phenomenon, a Prism, a Pocket, and a Piece of Wood," Social Studies of Science 23:1 (1993), 67-106. Luis Campos, "The Birth of Living Radium," Representations 97:1 (Winter 2007), 1-27. "The Latest Wonder of Science," Public Opinion 4:36 (Jan. 28, 1904), 115-116. J.J. Stewart, "The N-Rays of Blondlot," Knowledge & Scientific News 2:10 (September 1905), 218-219. "Science and Invention: Radio-Activity," Current Literature 38:3 (March 1905), 258. J.R. Whitehead, "Radioactivity and Radiation," Electrical World and Engineer 43:7, 310. Mark Pilkington, "N-Rays Exposed," Guardian, Sept. 1, 2004. "Latest Scientific Discovery," Leavenworth [Wash.] Echo, April 8, 1910, 4. Listener mail: Karen Abbott, "The 1904 Olympic Marathon May Have Been the Strangest Ever," Smithsonian.com, Aug. 7, 2012. Wikipedia, "1904 Summer Olympics" (accessed March 7, 2019). Wikipedia, "Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's Marathon" (accessed March 7, 2019). Brian Cronin, "Sports Legend Revealed: A Marathon Runner Nearly Died Because of Drugs He Took to Help Him Win," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 10, 2010. Wikipedia, "George Eyser" (accessed March 9, 2019). Wikipedia, "Andarín Carvajal" (accessed March 9, 2019). "1956 Olympic Long Jump Champion Krzesinska Dies," IAAF News, Dec. 30, 2015. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Murli Ravi. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Maria Reitan speaks with Karen Abbott, the author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War. Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women--a socialite, a farm girl, an abolitionist, and a widow--who were spies.

Enjoy the value of a good spy during the civil war! Karen Abbott brings to life 4 women who made a huge difference in the outcome of Union.

Enjoy the value of a good spy during the civil war! Karen Abbott brings to life 4 women who made a huge difference in the outcome of Union.

Enjoy the value of a good spy during the civil war! Karen Abbott brings to life 4 women who made a huge difference in the outcome of Union.

Cody is joined by comedianJoe Kaye to retroactively explain away their childhoods. You can find your copy of the book online and in at least one Montessori school.   ’The Indigo Children' by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober This book is a must for the parents of unusually bright and active children. Indigo children are those who display a new and unusual set of psychological attributes and show a pattern of behaviour generally undocumented before. In this groundbreaking book on the Indigo Child, international authors Lee Carroll and Jan Tober report the information of this increasingly documented and world-wide phenomenon and tell you how to identify this behavioural pattern and guide you on how you, as a parent or teacher of these children, can help them realise their amazing potential not forgetting their spiritual needs or specific health issues.   Show Notes: Currently Reading: ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ by Michelle McNamara ‘IT’ by Stephen King ‘Sin in the Second City’ by Karen Abbott   Topics:Hubris, Lists!, cults and mutants, More Lists!, New Age medicine, science and conspiracy, PUZZLES!   Follow TOMEFOOLERY for information about upcoming episodes & books: @Tomefoolery and Facebook.com/Tomefoolery. Please rate and review on iTunes!   WEBSITE: http://Tomefoolery.com   STORE: http://squareup.com/market/CodyMelcherEsq   PATREON: http://patreon.com/CodyMelcherEsq   FAN GROUP: http://www.facebook.com/groups/Tomefoolery

In 1932 a quartet of Bronx gangsters set out to murder a friend of theirs in order to collect his life insurance. But Michael Malloy proved to be almost comically difficult to kill. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review what one observer called "the most clumsily executed insurance scam in New York City history." We'll also burrow into hoarding and puzzle over the value of silence. Intro: In May 1856 Abraham Lincoln gave a fiery speech of which no record exists. Calvin S. Brown argued that Thomas De Quincey modeled the third part of his 1849 essay "The English Mail-Coach" deliberately on a musical fugue. Sources for our feature on Michael Malloy: Simon Read, On the House: The Bizarre Killing of Michael Malloy, 2005. Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook, 2011. Karen Abbott, "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," Smithsonian, Feb. 7, 2012. Isabelle Keating, "Doctor and Undertaker Held in 'Murder Trust,'" Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 12, 1933. "Insurance Murder Charged to Five," New York Times, May 13, 1933. "4 Murder Attempts Cited in Weird Insurance Plot," Altoona (Pa.) Tribune, May 13, 1933. "Murder Plot Seen in Another Death," New York Times, May 14, 1933. "Murder Inquiry Is Widened by Foley," New York Times, May 16, 1933. "Six Are Indicted in Insurance Plot," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, May 17, 1933. "Indicted as Slayers in Insurance Plot," New York Times, May 17, 1933. "4 on Trial in Bronx Insurance Slaying," New York Times, Oct. 5, 1933. "4 Men Go on Trial in Old Insurance Plot," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Oct. 18, 1933. "Jury Weighs Fate of Four in Killing," New York Times, Oct. 19, 1933. "Four Men to Die for Bronx Killing," New York Times, Oct. 20, 1933. "Three Die at Sing Sing for Bronx Murder," New York Times, June 8, 1934. "Murphy Goes to the Chair," New York Times, July 6, 1934. "The Durable Mike Malloy," New York Daily News, Oct. 14, 2007. Max Haines, "Inept Gang of Murderers Found Barfly Michael Malloy Almost Indestructible," Kamloops [B.C.] Daily News, Feb. 23, 2008. Deborah Blum, "The Strange Death of Mike the Durable," Women in Crime Ink, March 23, 2010. Listener mail: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), American Psychiatric Association, 2013. Fugen Neziroglu, "Hoarding: The Basics," Anxiety and Depression Association of America (accessed April 27, 2018). Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz, "Hoarding Can Be a Deadly Business," Scientific American, Sept. 1, 2013. Ferris Jabr, "Step Inside the Real World of Compulsive Hoarders," Scientific American, Feb. 25, 2013. Homer and Langley's Mystery Spot Antiques: This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener David Marrero, who sent these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Three cases are outlined where a person commits murder and then blames the crime on sleepwalking.  First up, Albert Tirrell murders his mistress in 1846 claiming he was in a trance-like state at the time. Kenneth Parks travels 23 km to commit a murder - all while asleep, he claimed. Finally, another man tries to use the sleepwalking defense after killing his wife in Phoenix, Arizona in 1997. Several resources were used in the research for this episode including:  Karen Abbott, Smithsonian.com, "The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer," April 30, 2012.  Paul Rubin, NewTimes.com, "A Killer Sleep Disorder," Nov 19, 1998.  True Crime Truant, "Scott Falater: Sleepwalking Killer Gets a Wakeup Call," July 20, 2017.  Berit Brogaard and Kristian Marlow, Psychology Today, "Sleep Driving and Sleep Killing: The Kenneth Parks Case," Dec 13, 2012.   

Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give (W.W. Norton & Company) In July of 2015, the New York Times “Modern Love” column published Ada Calhoun’s essay “The Wedding Toast I’ll Never Give,” a strikingly honest rumination on the true challenges—and joys—of marriage. The essay was wildly popular: it stayed in the most-emailed list for a week, inspired hundreds of comments, and became one of the top 50 stories of the year for the entire newspaper. In Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, Calhoun builds off of that first essay to provide a funny (but not flip), smart (but not smug) take on the institution of marriage. Weaving intimate moments from her own married life with frank insight from experts, clergy, and friends, she upends expectations of total marital bliss to present a realistic—but ultimately optimistic—portrait of what marriage is really like. There will be fights, there will be existential angst, there may even be affairs; sometimes, you’ll look at the person you love and feel nothing but rage. Despite it all, Calhoun contends, staying married is easy: just don’t get divorced. Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give offers bracing straight-talk to the newly married and honors those who have weathered the storm. This exploration of modern marriage is at once wise and entertaining, a work of unexpected candor and literary grace. Praise for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give "What a witty, sexy, surprising testimony to the institution of marriage! It's the best essay collection I've read in a long time, just astoundingly honest and insightful about what marriage really means. And I say that as someone who has been married 20 years."—Karen Abbott, New York Times-bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy "This unflinchingly honest, astutely balanced probe of a most perplexing institution asks all the right questions. It sets up a conversation with the reader, who is challenged to reflect at each point, choosing between 'No, that's not me' and 'How did she know that?' Most of the time, she knows."—Phillip Lopate, Author of The Art of the Personal Essay “This really spoke to me. It’s a beautiful love letter to what marriage is. Ada Calhoun seems like she’d be a ball to hang out with. Marriage: not so bad, guys.”—Kathryn Hahn, actress (Transparent, Crossing Jordan) “Ada Calhoun has written the definitive meditation on marriage in all of its mystery and imperfection. It should be required reading for anyone considering it, and highly recommended for those who want to be reminded of why they did it in the first place.”—Molly Ringwald “Brutally honest, hilarious and unsentimental -- but never unkind-- this is a book for anyone who has ever had a thought (good or bad) about the institution of marriage. I devoured this gem in one sitting. I want to marry this book.”—Susannah Cahalan, New York Times-bestselling author of Brain on Fire “A warm, tart, corrective to the persistent conviction that a wedding is the neat end of a love story.”—Rebecca Traister, New York Times-bestselling author of All the Single Ladies “Ada Calhoun is the friend we all need-- the one who lets us behind the curtain of her good marriage to help us better understand our own. She’s smart, funny, and best of all, willing to bare all.”—Emma Straub, New York Times-bestselling author of Modern Lovers Calhoun’s first book, St. Marks Is Dead, was named a New York TimesEditor’s Choice and a Boston Globe Best Book of 2015. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son. Davy Rothbart is a bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, creator of Found Magazine, a frequent contributor to public radio's This American Life, and the author of a book of personal essays, My Heart Is An Idiot, and a collection of stories, The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. He writes regularly for GQ and Los Angeles Magazine, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Believer. His documentary film, Medora, about a resilient high-school basketball team in a dwindling Indiana town, aired recently on the acclaimed PBS series Independent Lens, won a 2015 Emmy Award, and can now be streamed online. Rothbart is also the founder of Washington To Washington, an annual hiking adventure for inner-city kids. He lives between Los Angeles, California and his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

New York Times bestselling author discusses her book Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

This week our hosts are discussing the first part of the Season 2 finale episodes "Becoming" parts 1 & 2. We're chatting about that tragedy that is Giles' romantic life, Angelus' questionable fashion choices, and THE LIE. It's basically a lot of parts and even more feelings.  For more Hot Chicks With[out] Superpowers check out: Emily suggests you all read "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy" by Karen Abbott to learn about lady spies in the U.S. Civil War, and please write in with more suggestions for books that give historical badass ladies their dues. Hannah recently re-watched "Thelma & Louise" with Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon and suggests you all pour a glass of wine and enjoy this timeless example of female friendship. Haley is plugging one of our fave podcasts, "Stuff You Missed in History Class." They discuss many amazing women in history and their archives will keep your commute historical for months.

This may be the most "Chicago" podcast episode I've ever produced. My guest this week is author Dennis Foley (The Streets and San Man's Guide to Chicago Eats, We Speak Chicagoese). We meet at Byron's Hot Dogs at 1017 W. Irving Park (also located at 1701 W. Lawrence), and owner Mike Payne jumps in the backseat to join in on the conversation. Foley's a terrific writer and an expert on all things Chicago... especially on Chicago food. As for Payne? Well, he's simply a hot dog titan. Some of the things we discuss: *What sets a hot dog apart? ("It all starts with the steam table.") *The beauty of a Chicago dog ("It's like a ballet in a bun") *The excellent new book Foley co-edited,"We Speak Chicagoese" ("short stories, creative essays and poems about Chicago by some of the top literary voices to ever roam the Windy City's streets"). We cover some of the collection's most compelling entries, including Foley's contribution, "Pretty Please." *How my enjoyment of Byron's hot dogs spread to the front of my shirt. *Why Mike Payne should run for president this year. *I mis-credit Karen Abbott's must-read book "Sin in the Second City" as "Sex in the Second City." I regret the error. *How Payne met President Obama and taught the White House the way to make a proper hot dog. *What defines "Chicagoese?" Grab a seat over by dere and give this one a listen, my friend.

Karen Abbott is a New York Times bestselling historian and a pioneer of what USA Today calls “sizzle history.” Her hits to date include Sin in the Second City (2008) and American Rose (2012). Publishers Weekly praises Abbott’s latest title, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, as a “gripping… remarkable story of passion, strength, and resilience.” It […]

Karen Abbott is a New York Times bestselling historian and a pioneer of what USA Today calls “sizzle history.” Her hits to date include Sin in the Second City (2008) […]

Karen Abbott is a New York Times bestselling historian and a pioneer of what USA Today calls “sizzle history.” Her hits to date include Sin in the Second City (2008) and American Rose (2012). Publishers Weekly praises Abbott’s latest title, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, as a “gripping… remarkable story of passion, strength, and resilience.” It brings to light the stories […]

Special host Laura Rowley interviews bestselling author Karen Abbott about her book Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. Abbott is the first author joining us for this year's AViD (Authors Visiting in Des Moines) events. Come see Abbott at the Central Library on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:00 PM. Visit dmpl.org for more information about AViD and the library. Music credits: "Young, Tough and Terrible" by The Losers / CC BY-NC

Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, joins me to talk about a group of extraordinary women in 1860s America, both Union and Confederate, who become spies to help advance their sides in the Civil War. The song at the end of the episode, My Rebel Soldier, is available for purchase through Itunes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Karen Abbott joins The Steve Fast Show and discusses the impact of four women who served as spies during the Civil War. #CivilWar #women

Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, and, most recently, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, named one of the best books of 2014 by Library Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, Amazon, and Flavorwire, and optioned by Sony for a miniseries. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives in New York City, where she's at work on her next book.

Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, and, most recently, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, named one of the best books of 2014 by Library Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, Amazon, and Flavorwire, and optioned by Sony for a miniseries. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives in New York City, where she's at work on her next book.

This hour of Modern Notion Daily, our guest Karen Abbott talks about her book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper Perennial, paperback September 2015). Abbott explored the lives of four women who contributed to the war effort in unusual ways, from the Confederate spy who bedded countless Union soldiers to…

September 16, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War", a spellbinding work of historical restoration, recounts the courage and audacious duplicity of four remarkable women who played seminal roles in the Civil War. Two working for the Union and two for the Confederacy, these women, until now all but forgotten by history, came from varying backgrounds and regions. Yet each risked everything—money, honor, family connections, and even her life—in order to further the cause in which she adamantly believed. Abbott, who draws on a wealth of primary source material as well as interviews with the women’s descendants, illuminates these interwoven lives with the assured hand of an historian and the narrative grace of a novelist.

The life of US Civil War nurse and soldier Emma Edmonds is discussed by author Karen Abbott.

This week on Point of inquiry, New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott talks to Lindsay Beyerstein about her newest book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, which tells the true story of four women who served as spies during the U.S. Civil War.  In a time when women had few of the rights they would later win for themselves, the need for espionage turned out to be an early and important step in the fight for women’s suffrage. These bold women went to extraordinary lengths to fight for their respective sides, taking on various roles to gain information, even posing as men. The risk of being discovered was as much a concern during a military medical exam as it was when they were simply attempting to wear men’s pants properly.

Karen Abbott is one of America's most popular historical investigators. She wrote about the prostitution trade of gilded age Chicago in Sin in the Second City and about Gypsy Rose Lee in American Rose. Her newest book is Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

On Tuesday, November 11, at noon, Karen Abbott delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War." After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little-known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.

On Tuesday, November 11, 2014, Karen Abbott delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War." After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Rose O'Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies' descendants, Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little-known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies. Abbott is a featured contributor to Smithsonian's history blog, Past Imperfect, and also writes for Disunion, the New York Times series about the Civil War. She is the author of several books, including American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (2010) and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (2014). This lecture is cosponsored with the American Civil War Museum. The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

If group biography is one of the exciting new trends in life-writing (and some say it is), Karen Abbott– the historian, not to be confused with the novelist-proves one of its deftest practitioners- first, in her debut Sin in the Second City, then in the follow-up American Rose (which we discussed back in 2012) and now in her new book: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper, 2014). Tracking four women- two Confederates and two Unionists- across battle lines, continents and even, at times, genders, with great verve Abbott weaves together a series of stories, connected by the conflict in which they are occurring and yet also uniquely each women’s own. The story of the American Civil War has been told umpteen times, but it is an unexpected element within the familiar which Abbott is concerned with exploring here. Tales of our heroines- Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds,Rose O’Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew, all women most readers will be encountering for the first time- yield an untraditional perspective on women’s participation in the war whilst Abbott also gives fresh life to well-known figures: Stonewall Jackson, painted here in broad vivid colors, emerges from the familiar tapestry in his full, eccentric glory almost as a character born anew. Reviewing her first book, USA Today labeled Abbott a “pioneer of sizzle history.” It’s a label that’s stuck and one which is apt for a mode of story-telling driven by such a propulsive kinetic energy, as Abbott’s is. But it’s important to note that the stories she’s telling are sturdy, thoroughly researched and culturally necessary. The word “sizzle” can imply a frothy effervescence, a flash in the pan, and these stories- the stories of these four women in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and in her other books- are anything but. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If group biography is one of the exciting new trends in life-writing (and some say it is), Karen Abbott– the historian, not to be confused with the novelist-proves one of its deftest practitioners- first, in her debut Sin in the Second City, then in the follow-up American Rose (which we discussed back in 2012) and now in her new book: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper, 2014). Tracking four women- two Confederates and two Unionists- across battle lines, continents and even, at times, genders, with great verve Abbott weaves together a series of stories, connected by the conflict in which they are occurring and yet also uniquely each women’s own. The story of the American Civil War has been told umpteen times, but it is an unexpected element within the familiar which Abbott is concerned with exploring here. Tales of our heroines- Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds,Rose O’Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew, all women most readers will be encountering for the first time- yield an untraditional perspective on women’s participation in the war whilst Abbott also gives fresh life to well-known figures: Stonewall Jackson, painted here in broad vivid colors, emerges from the familiar tapestry in his full, eccentric glory almost as a character born anew. Reviewing her first book, USA Today labeled Abbott a “pioneer of sizzle history.” It’s a label that’s stuck and one which is apt for a mode of story-telling driven by such a propulsive kinetic energy, as Abbott’s is. But it’s important to note that the stories she’s telling are sturdy, thoroughly researched and culturally necessary. The word “sizzle” can imply a frothy effervescence, a flash in the pan, and these stories- the stories of these four women in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and in her other books- are anything but. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If group biography is one of the exciting new trends in life-writing (and some say it is), Karen Abbott– the historian, not to be confused with the novelist-proves one of its deftest practitioners- first, in her debut Sin in the Second City, then in the follow-up American Rose (which we discussed back in 2012) and now in her new book: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper, 2014). Tracking four women- two Confederates and two Unionists- across battle lines, continents and even, at times, genders, with great verve Abbott weaves together a series of stories, connected by the conflict in which they are occurring and yet also uniquely each women’s own. The story of the American Civil War has been told umpteen times, but it is an unexpected element within the familiar which Abbott is concerned with exploring here. Tales of our heroines- Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds,Rose O’Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew, all women most readers will be encountering for the first time- yield an untraditional perspective on women’s participation in the war whilst Abbott also gives fresh life to well-known figures: Stonewall Jackson, painted here in broad vivid colors, emerges from the familiar tapestry in his full, eccentric glory almost as a character born anew. Reviewing her first book, USA Today labeled Abbott a “pioneer of sizzle history.” It’s a label that’s stuck and one which is apt for a mode of story-telling driven by such a propulsive kinetic energy, as Abbott’s is. But it’s important to note that the stories she’s telling are sturdy, thoroughly researched and culturally necessary. The word “sizzle” can imply a frothy effervescence, a flash in the pan, and these stories- the stories of these four women in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and in her other books- are anything but. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If group biography is one of the exciting new trends in life-writing (and some say it is), Karen Abbott– the historian, not to be confused with the novelist-proves one of its deftest practitioners- first, in her debut Sin in the Second City, then in the follow-up American Rose (which we discussed back in 2012) and now in her new book: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper, 2014). Tracking four women- two Confederates and two Unionists- across battle lines, continents and even, at times, genders, with great verve Abbott weaves together a series of stories, connected by the conflict in which they are occurring and yet also uniquely each women’s own. The story of the American Civil War has been told umpteen times, but it is an unexpected element within the familiar which Abbott is concerned with exploring here. Tales of our heroines- Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds,Rose O’Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew, all women most readers will be encountering for the first time- yield an untraditional perspective on women’s participation in the war whilst Abbott also gives fresh life to well-known figures: Stonewall Jackson, painted here in broad vivid colors, emerges from the familiar tapestry in his full, eccentric glory almost as a character born anew. Reviewing her first book, USA Today labeled Abbott a “pioneer of sizzle history.” It’s a label that’s stuck and one which is apt for a mode of story-telling driven by such a propulsive kinetic energy, as Abbott’s is. But it’s important to note that the stories she’s telling are sturdy, thoroughly researched and culturally necessary. The word “sizzle” can imply a frothy effervescence, a flash in the pan, and these stories- the stories of these four women in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and in her other books- are anything but. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott discusses her new novel Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy (on-sale: 9-2-14)with @HarperAudio_US Producer Erin Wicks. This episode also includes an excerpt from the audio edition performed by Karen White. About Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy Belle Boyd Emma Edmonds Rose O'Neal Greenhow Elizabeth Van Lew In Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, bestselling author Karen Abbott tells the spellbinding true story of four women who risked everything—their homes, their families, and their very lives—during the Civil War. Seventeen-year-old Belle Boyd, an avowed rebel with a dangerous temper, shot a Union soldier in her home and became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her considerable charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds disguised herself as a man to enlist as a Union private named Frank Thompson, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the war and infiltrating enemy lines, all the while fearing that her past would catch up with her. The beautiful widow Rose O'Neal Greenhow engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians, used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals, and sailed abroad to lobby for the Confederacy, a journey that cost her more than she ever imagined. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring—even placing a former slave inside the Confederate White House—right under the noses of increasingly suspicious rebel detectives. Abbott's pulse-quickening narrative weaves the adventures of these four forgotten daredevils into the tumultuous landscape of a broken America, evoking a secret world that will surprise even the most avid enthusiasts of Civil War–era history. With a cast of real-life characters, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, Detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoléon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy shines a dramatic new light on these daring—and, until now, unsung—heroines.

As a whole, the genre of biography trends towards linear narratives–wherein the events of a subject's life are tracked in the order that they occurred. This makes sense, as it's how we live our lives, but there are advantages that come with non-linear structure. In the case of Karen Abbott‘s American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life & Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (Random House, 2012), the benefit is that the book reads like a slick, sexy film noir and it is virtually impossible to put down. The life of Gypsy Rose Lee- “this Dorothy Parker in a G-string”, famous for her “burlesque of burlesque”- is perhaps best likened to a Greek drama. The relationship between Gypsy, her controlling mother and the younger sister who stole her name offers enough material for a whole master's thesis on Freud, and that's just one of the many tangled relationship dynamics here worthy of analysis. And yet, Abbott exercises masterful control over her colorful cast of characters, all while guiding three separate narrative strands. We enter the narrative at three distinct points and flip between them throughout: Gypsy, post-1939; Gypsy, pre-1939; and the Minsky Brothers burlesque clubs in the 1920s. If you're not a biographile, the transitions might even slip by unnoticed, incrementally heightening the drama with each page until, at the book's crescendo, you find you're almost winded. American Rose is an ambitious story told in an ambitious style and, much like modern art, it looks effortless because it is impeccably well done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a whole, the genre of biography trends towards linear narratives–wherein the events of a subject’s life are tracked in the order that they occurred. This makes sense, as it’s how we live our lives, but there are advantages that come with non-linear structure. In the case of Karen Abbott‘s American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life & Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (Random House, 2012), the benefit is that the book reads like a slick, sexy film noir and it is virtually impossible to put down. The life of Gypsy Rose Lee- “this Dorothy Parker in a G-string”, famous for her “burlesque of burlesque”- is perhaps best likened to a Greek drama. The relationship between Gypsy, her controlling mother and the younger sister who stole her name offers enough material for a whole master’s thesis on Freud, and that’s just one of the many tangled relationship dynamics here worthy of analysis. And yet, Abbott exercises masterful control over her colorful cast of characters, all while guiding three separate narrative strands. We enter the narrative at three distinct points and flip between them throughout: Gypsy, post-1939; Gypsy, pre-1939; and the Minsky Brothers burlesque clubs in the 1920s. If you’re not a biographile, the transitions might even slip by unnoticed, incrementally heightening the drama with each page until, at the book’s crescendo, you find you’re almost winded. American Rose is an ambitious story told in an ambitious style and, much like modern art, it looks effortless because it is impeccably well done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a whole, the genre of biography trends towards linear narratives–wherein the events of a subject’s life are tracked in the order that they occurred. This makes sense, as it’s how we live our lives, but there are advantages that come with non-linear structure. In the case of Karen Abbott‘s American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life & Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (Random House, 2012), the benefit is that the book reads like a slick, sexy film noir and it is virtually impossible to put down. The life of Gypsy Rose Lee- “this Dorothy Parker in a G-string”, famous for her “burlesque of burlesque”- is perhaps best likened to a Greek drama. The relationship between Gypsy, her controlling mother and the younger sister who stole her name offers enough material for a whole master’s thesis on Freud, and that’s just one of the many tangled relationship dynamics here worthy of analysis. And yet, Abbott exercises masterful control over her colorful cast of characters, all while guiding three separate narrative strands. We enter the narrative at three distinct points and flip between them throughout: Gypsy, post-1939; Gypsy, pre-1939; and the Minsky Brothers burlesque clubs in the 1920s. If you’re not a biographile, the transitions might even slip by unnoticed, incrementally heightening the drama with each page until, at the book’s crescendo, you find you’re almost winded. American Rose is an ambitious story told in an ambitious style and, much like modern art, it looks effortless because it is impeccably well done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a whole, the genre of biography trends towards linear narratives–wherein the events of a subject’s life are tracked in the order that they occurred. This makes sense, as it’s how we live our lives, but there are advantages that come with non-linear structure. In the case of Karen Abbott‘s American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life & Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (Random House, 2012), the benefit is that the book reads like a slick, sexy film noir and it is virtually impossible to put down. The life of Gypsy Rose Lee- “this Dorothy Parker in a G-string”, famous for her “burlesque of burlesque”- is perhaps best likened to a Greek drama. The relationship between Gypsy, her controlling mother and the younger sister who stole her name offers enough material for a whole master’s thesis on Freud, and that’s just one of the many tangled relationship dynamics here worthy of analysis. And yet, Abbott exercises masterful control over her colorful cast of characters, all while guiding three separate narrative strands. We enter the narrative at three distinct points and flip between them throughout: Gypsy, post-1939; Gypsy, pre-1939; and the Minsky Brothers burlesque clubs in the 1920s. If you’re not a biographile, the transitions might even slip by unnoticed, incrementally heightening the drama with each page until, at the book’s crescendo, you find you’re almost winded. American Rose is an ambitious story told in an ambitious style and, much like modern art, it looks effortless because it is impeccably well done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a whole, the genre of biography trends towards linear narratives–wherein the events of a subject’s life are tracked in the order that they occurred. This makes sense, as it’s how we live our lives, but there are advantages that come with non-linear structure. In the case of Karen Abbott‘s American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life & Times of Gypsy Rose Lee (Random House, 2012), the benefit is that the book reads like a slick, sexy film noir and it is virtually impossible to put down. The life of Gypsy Rose Lee- “this Dorothy Parker in a G-string”, famous for her “burlesque of burlesque”- is perhaps best likened to a Greek drama. The relationship between Gypsy, her controlling mother and the younger sister who stole her name offers enough material for a whole master’s thesis on Freud, and that’s just one of the many tangled relationship dynamics here worthy of analysis. And yet, Abbott exercises masterful control over her colorful cast of characters, all while guiding three separate narrative strands. We enter the narrative at three distinct points and flip between them throughout: Gypsy, post-1939; Gypsy, pre-1939; and the Minsky Brothers burlesque clubs in the 1920s. If you’re not a biographile, the transitions might even slip by unnoticed, incrementally heightening the drama with each page until, at the book’s crescendo, you find you’re almost winded. American Rose is an ambitious story told in an ambitious style and, much like modern art, it looks effortless because it is impeccably well done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You, Me, Them, Everybody Live! at Pete's Candy Store with Karen Abbott, Andy Haynes and The Bandana Splits Karen is the author of "American Rose" and "Sin in the Second City." You should buy both books. They're good. Visit her here. Andy Haynes is an extremely funny stand up. Follow him on Twitter here. The […]