Podcasts about Servant Girl Annihilator

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Servant Girl Annihilator

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Best podcasts about Servant Girl Annihilator

Latest podcast episodes about Servant Girl Annihilator

Bizarre podcast
Servant Girl Annihilator - Servant Girl Murders - The Midnight Assassin

Bizarre podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2025 32:07


In 1884 Austin , Texas  saw the start of a brutal string of attacks on mainly servant girls , who were attaked whilst they slept , normally with and ax , and raped and then murdered these killings would be coined the servant girl murders , and the murderer who was never caught would become known as the midnight assassin or the Servant Girl Annihilator.source information for this episode came from the fantastic book by Tim HuddlestonAnnihilation in Austin: The Servant Girl Annihilator Murders of 1885 by Tim Huddlestonheres an amazon link if u wish to read more Annihilation In Austin: The Servant Girl Annihilator Murders of 1885 (Cold Case Crime Book 3) eBook : Huddleston, Tim: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Storebiazarrepodcast@yahoo.comDave Mc (@bizarre_tales_with_dave_) • Instagram photos and videos

Texas Steampunk Connection
Tx Steampunk Xtion: on the Road S9Ep06

Texas Steampunk Connection

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 55:29


recorded March 19, 2025 Steampunk is fiction informed by history, so it's good to know a thing or two about actually happened, especially when it makes such wild stories. This week we welcome hobby historian and author, Krystal Stargazer, to talk about her favorite character, her historical crush, Davey Crockett. We also discuss her book detailing her research into Austin's own Victorian cereal killer, the Servant Girl Annihilator. The Annihilation of Austin  Austin Moon Towers 

Timesuck with Dan Cummins
Short Suck #21 - The Servant Girl Annihilator aka The Midnight Assassin

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2024 53:50


Today I'm sharing the little known Servant Girl Annihilator murders. A series of crimes just as shocking as the crimes of London's Jack the Ripper murders, but occurred three years earlier, in Austin, Texas. Who kept dragging woman after woman from their beds and killing them with an ax? For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Crime and Conjure
The Servant Girl Annihilator: America's First Serial Killer

Crime and Conjure

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2024 45:34


If you Google America's first serial killer, it will tell you that a man named H. H. Holmes was the first. However, a few years before Holmes started his murder spree, Austin Texas was plagued by a nightmare of their own. In the span of 1 year, 8 innocent lives were taken by a brutal monster, but few bothered to notice. Even today, the reason you haven't heard of this case is steeped in a culture of racial ignorance.

Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad
The Servant Girl Annihilator PT 2

Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2024 55:00


On today's episode, the conclusion of a two-parter, Paul and Kate return to Austin, Texas as more bodies are found brutally murdered in an eerily similar fashion. After a possible unique print is left at a few crime scenes, the town is on the lookout for a specific offender.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad
The Servant Girl Annihilator PT 1

Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2024 61:02


In this week's episode, the first of a two-parter, Kate and Paul head to 1884 Austin, Texas. After a string of grisly murders, the entire town is on edge as black domestic workers specifically seem to be the ones being targeted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old Blood
Hell Broke Loose: The Servant Girl Killer

Old Blood

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2024 67:47


Before Jack the Ripper, there was the Servant Girl Annihilator. The man who stalked Austin, Texas, in 1885, preying upon the city's black servant girls. When he targeted two white women in a shocking Christmas Eve attack, all hell broke loose. Who was this servant girl killer, and was he the same man that terrorized London in 1888?Sources:Galloway, J. R. The Servant Girl Murders: Austin, Texas 1885 (BookLocker, 2010) and the book's website https://www.servantgirlmurders.com/History Detectives- HDSI- Texas Servant Girl Murders, 2014. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-hdsi-texas-servant-girl-murders/ Hollandsworth, Skip. The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer (Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2015) and “Capital Murder” Texas Monthly, July 2000. https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/capital-murder/Psencik, Katey. “The Servant Girl Annihilator: Austin's oldest unsolved murder case.” KVUE. 7 November, 2014. https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/hidden-austin/the-servant-girl-annihilator-austins-oldest-unsolved-murder-case/269-260196137Original Sources: Burt, Dr. W. J. “Autopsy Report for Susan Hancock, 1885” 29 December 1885. Susan Hancock Inquest. 29 December, 1885.State of Texas v. James O Phillips, 1886.Newspaper Articles: The Fort Worth Daily Gazette, The New York Times, The Austin Weekly StatesmanMusic: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia ListonFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Red Web
Was He the Jack the Ripper of Italy? | Monster of Florence

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2024 59:21


For almost 2 decades Italy was haunted by their own Jack the Ripper. While multiple people were arrested for the murders, it is still unclear today who exactly murdered 16 innocent people. Today we uncover the disturbing crimes of the Monster of Florence. Sensitive topics: graphic descriptions of violence/death, sexual assault. If you'd like to listen to past mysteries we discuss, they are: Jack the Ripper (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1si23rEL6RmdCn5KtWi7Bo?si=4588edb2743d401f), Zodiac (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0z0hZpOzkAZv0LpXeSUXyJ?si=d91d69cb35d246c2), Servant Girl Annihilator (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xEQSMtKXwYYUQhlL7ygUP?si=a287e5055b214d38), Monster With 21 Faces (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0YKu62uvzGac2vqbU6Uo8y?si=687baba1359a4899) Sponsored by Rocket Money (Go to http://rocketmoney.com/REDWEB to cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Midnight Train Podcast
Old West Mysteries Part 2 (Billy The Kid lives!!)

Midnight Train Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2024 114:33 Transcription Available


Summary In this episode of the Midnight Train podcast, the hosts introduce themselves and promote Moody's band and single. They then dive into the Western mysteries, starting with the Tombstone Thunderbird sighting. They discuss the different accounts and exaggerations of the Thunderbird tale, as well as the existence of a supposed Thunderbird photo. The hosts then move on to the mystery of a shipwreck in the California desert, exploring the plausibility and possible explanations for such an occurrence. This part of the conversation explores various topics related to the Old West, including speculation about the topography of the past, the legend of a ship in the desert, UFO stories, encounters with airships and aliens, and the existence of Wild West serial killers. This part of the conversation explores various unsolved mysteries and legends, including the Servant Girl Annihilator, a series of brutal attacks and murders in Austin, Texas in the 1880s. The identity of the killer remains unknown. The conversation also touches on the speculation surrounding the nine-toed man, multiple suspects, and the possibility of a cover-up. Other topics include the lost cement mine, hidden gold, and the fate of famous outlaws like Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid. In this episode, Moody and The Conductor discuss various mysteries and weirdness of the Old West. They talk about the legend of Billy the Kid and the spirits of Hell Dogs in Nevada. They also discuss the spooky story of the Ship of Death in Wyoming. Finally, they share their top 10 Western movies.   Takeaways The Midnight Train podcast is a comedy podcast that delves into creepy and unsolved mysteries. The Tombstone Thunderbird sighting is a mysterious tale with various accounts and exaggerations. The existence of a Thunderbird photo is highly debated, with no concrete evidence found. The shipwreck in the California desert is an enduring legend with possible explanations rooted in historical events. The Servant Girl Annihilator case remains an unsolved mystery, with multiple theories and suspects. The brutal attacks and murders committed by the Annihilator shocked the city of Austin in the 1880s. The nine-toed man left behind a distinct footprint at the crime scenes, but was never caught. The lost cement mine and hidden gold stories continue to captivate people's imaginations. The fate of famous outlaws like Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid is still debated and shrouded in mystery. The Old West is filled with mysterious and spooky stories, including the legends of Billy the Kid and the Hell Dogs of Nevada. The Ship of Death in Wyoming is a haunting tale of a ghostly ship and a foreshadowing of imminent death. Western movies have captivated audiences for decades, and there are many great films to choose from when it comes to the genre. Exploring the mysteries and stories of the Old West can be both fascinating and chilling.   For all things Train related: www.themidnighttrainpodcast.com 

A Long Crime Ago
Brain Jelly

A Long Crime Ago

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2023 41:54


What does the Servant Girl Annihilator, the Austin Axe Murderer, and the Midnight Assassin have in common? They're all the same person and we'll be discussing the heinous crimes committed by *him* in this epidsode.

Red Web
Was This the Black Dahlia Murderer? | Cleveland Torso Killer

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 50:47


In September 1934, a portion of a woman's torso was found on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland. Weeks later other parts of her body were found, turned red from an unknown chemical. The woman became known as the “Lady of the Lake.” This seemingly isolated murder foreshadowed a grisly killer that haunted Cleveland for years to come. Today let's discuss the puzzling case of the Cleveland Torso Killer. Content warnings: graphic description of violence/murder. Be careful when looking up images for this case. If you'd like to listen to past mysteries we discuss, they are: Servant Girl Annihilator (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xEQSMtKXwYYUQhlL7ygUP?si=bd25196d17214642), Jack the Ripper (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1si23rEL6RmdCn5KtWi7Bo?si=d512edd870e04e66), Zodiac Killer (https://open.spotify.com/episode/4hp2q3eG1eSx7XvlRgFQsT?si=6d4fadb3d4dd4e87), and Black Dahlia (https://open.spotify.com/episode/51eP7pQAS26V7K7VAbrarc?si=19be70ad2a5a48d8). Sponsored by HelloFresh (go to http://hellofresh.com/redwebfree and use code redwebfree for FREE breakfast for life!), Rocket Money (go to http://rocketmoney.com/redweb to cancel your unwanted subscriptions), and Uncommon Goods (go to http://uncommongoods.com/redweb to get 15% off). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CounterCult
Servant Girl Annihilator/Austin Axe Murders

CounterCult

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2023 63:10


Listen to the guys discuss the case of America's first serial killer and debate theories. Links: Patreon: patreon.com/CounterCult_Podcast Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/KemFqKx64dk Instagram: instagram.com/countercult.podcast Facebook: facebook.com/countercult.podcast email: countercult.podcast@gmail.com

Nerdery and Murdery
Ep.110 Babylon 5 and The Servant Girl Annihilator

Nerdery and Murdery

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2023 55:49


Geoffrey is Back.....Zig waxes poetic about Babylon 5 , the 1990's sci fi show. Geoffrey tells the thrilling tale of an Axe Murder in Austin Texas from the 1890's. For your 30 day free Audible Trial go to: Audibletrial.com/nerderyandmurderyFor 10% off with BetterHelp go to: betterhelp.com/nerderyandmurderySupport the show

Ruined Heroes
Servant Girl Annihilator

Ruined Heroes

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2023 62:15


https://www.patreon.com/ruinedheroeshttps://www.ruinedheroes.com/home-1Theme music by Tyler C. Dones and Jon BolichPrimary Sources:https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/servant_girl/index.htmlhttps://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/10-10-18-servant-girl-murders-history/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94680/how-servant-girl-annihilator-terrorized-1880s-austinhttp://www.servantgirlmurders.com/the-servant-girl-annihilator/https://www.historicmysteries.com/servant-girl-annihilator/Unsolved Murders podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unsolved-murders-true-crime-stories/id1122804248?i=1000395070569

Fresh Hell Podcast
E199: MURDER - The Austin Axe Murders aka The Servant Girl Annihilator (part II)

Fresh Hell Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2023 74:30


The conclusion of the horrific and brazen attacks in Austin, Texas from New Year's Eve 1885 to Christmas Eve, 1885. Among the murdered are Mollie Smith, Eliza Shelly, Irene Cross, Mary Ramey, Gracie Vance, Orange Washington, Susan Hancock and Eula Philips. More survivors would be forever haunted by these vicious attacks. We‘ll discuss these crimes in detail and talk about the theories of who the likely murderer was. Also discussed is the origin of the AKA for this series of murders, “The Servant Girl Annihilator"!   Please go to podcastawards.com and vote for us in the categories True Crime, History, Best Female Hosted & People's Choice

Fresh Hell Podcast
E198: MURDER - The Austin Axe Murders aka The Servant Girl Annihilator (part I)

Fresh Hell Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2023 50:15


Austin 1885: a series of brutal crimes shock the growing city! The victims of the brutal crimes: predominantly young women who worked as servants in the area. This week Annie and Johanna talk about the city Austin, and the first victims of the Axe murderer, Mollie Smith, Clara Strand and Christine Martenson, Eliza Shelly, Irene Cross and Clara Dick. Please go to podcastawards.com and vote for us in the categories True Crime, History, Best Female Hosted & People's Choice

A Good Night For a Murder
Texas Servant Girl Annihilator

A Good Night For a Murder

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2023 36:16


Tonight's case is about an early American serial killer whose crimes and reign of terror rival that of Jack the Ripper. This is the story of the Texas Servant Girl Annihilator.A Good Night for a Murder is now on YouTube!Follow along on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube @agoodnightforamurder or www.agoodnightforamurder.com, and subscribe where ever you listen to podcasts.

Red Web
The Story Behind the Weeping Woman? | La Llorona

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2023 53:38


In Mexican folklore there exists a story of a woman who weeps for her lost children. Taking the form of a malevolent spirit, her cries are said to bring misfortune to those who hear them. Today, we're going to compare legend to history as we discuss La Llorona. Visit our Twitter page (https://twitter.com/RedWebPod) to see the images we discuss. If you'd like to listen to past mysteries we discuss, they are: Servant Girl Annihilator (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xEQSMtKXwYYUQhlL7ygUP?si=a7df6f0aca3b4fe4), and Loch Ness Monster (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3U5J5dnwDAK2CoDYjHPMr8?si=f594376a7cc14e8d) Sponsored by BetterHelp (go to http://betterhelp.com/redweb to get 10% off your first month), ExpressVPN (go to http://expressvpn.com/redweb to get an extra 3 months free), and Rocket Money (go to http://rocketmoney.com/redweb to cancel unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Morning Cup Of Murder
The Alleged Voodoo Syndicate Ax Murders - April 5 2023

Morning Cup Of Murder

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2023 10:35


April 5th: Clementine Barnabet Confesses (1912) In the early 20th century something strange was happening in the United States. Ax murders, ones like those of the Servant Girl Annihilator and the Axeman of New Orleans, were taking place all in the same pockets of the country and with little to no information pointing to a killer's identity. On April 5th 1912 a young woman confessed to her involvement in a handful of these mysterious ax murders. A woman whose life, race, and upbringing became the catalyst for crimes that, to this day, we don't know if she actually committed.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_Barnabet, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502014/voodoo-murders-clementine-barnabet-who-claimed-have-killed-35-people, https://973thedawg.com/serial-axe-murderer-clementine-barnabet-video/, https://the-line-up.com/clementine-barnabet, https://acadianahistorical.org/items/show/73, https://www.grunge.com/705208/this-is-how-many-victims-clementine-barnabet-actually-had/, https://www.grunge.com/365510/what-you-didnt-know-about-serial-killer-clementine-barnabet/

Red Web
Do These Impossible Ciphers Lead to Buried Treasure? | Beale Ciphers

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2023 61:37


In the year 1822, a Virginia innkeeper was given a locked box that he was told not to open for 10 years. Decades later, he finally opened it to see that it contained ciphers which pointed to the location of buried treasures. These ciphers have become some of the most puzzling codes in history and have never been solved. Today, we dive into the bewildering mystery of the Beale Ciphers. If you'd like to listen to the past mysteries we discuss, they are: the Secret (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1QmCqo80TWQKKWO41eSELi?si=0656b83c88f14e17) and Servant Girl Annihilator (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xEQSMtKXwYYUQhlL7ygUP?si=4f020aae1b7048a4).  Sponsored by Babbel (go to http://babbel.com/redweb to get up to 55% off) and Rocket Money (go to http://rocketmoney.com/redweb to get Rocket Money). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Open Mic with Chuck Tuck
The Servant Girl Annihilator

Open Mic with Chuck Tuck

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2023 10:05


Listener discretion is advised. The Servant Girl Annihilator is a notorious serial killer who terrorized the city of Austin, Texas, in the late 1800s. The killer was responsible for a series of brutal murders that took place between 1884 and 1885. The identity of the Servant Girl Annihilator remains a mystery to this day, and the case has captured the imagination of true crime enthusiasts and historians for over a century. The murders began on December 30, 1884, when Mollie Smith, a young servant girl, was attacked and killed in her bed while she slept. Her attacker used an axe to bludgeon her to death and then proceeded to drag her body out of the house and onto the street. The murder was shocking and caused widespread panic throughout the city. It was the first in a series of similar attacks that would continue for over a year. Over the course of the next year, at least six more women were murdered in similar attacks. The killer targeted young servant girls who worked in the homes of wealthy families. The attacks were brutal, with the killer using an axe or other blunt object to bludgeon his victims to death. The killer also targeted men who tried to intervene, and at least one man was killed while attempting to protect his wife. The Servant Girl Annihilator was known for his stealth and cunning. He was able to enter the homes of his victims without being detected, and he was never caught in the act. The killer also seemed to have an uncanny ability to evade capture. Despite a massive manhunt and the involvement of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the killer was never identified or brought to justice. The Servant Girl Annihilator case is notable for several reasons. For one, it was one of the earliest documented cases of serial killers in the United States. It also represents a fascinating chapter in the history of Texas, which was still a relatively new state at the time. The case has also inspired countless books, articles, and documentaries over the years. There are many theories about the identity of the Servant Girl Annihilator, but none have been proven. Some historians believe that the killer was a man named Nathan Elgin, who was a suspect in several of the murders. Elgin was eventually sent to an insane asylum, but he was never officially charged with the crimes. Others believe that the killer was a member of a secret society or cult and that the murders were part of some kind of ritualistic practice. This theory is largely based on the fact that several of the victims were found with strange symbols carved into their flesh. However, there is no concrete evidence to support this theory. Another theory is that the killer was a wealthy or influential member of society who was able to evade capture due to his status. This theory is supported by the fact that many of the victims were young servant girls who worked in the homes of the city's wealthy elite. Despite the many theories, the identity of the Servant Girl Annihilator remains a mystery. The case has been the subject of numerous books, films, and television shows, and it continues to fascinate true crime enthusiasts and historians alike. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the case, and several new theories have emerged. Some experts believe that the killer may have been a woman, citing the fact that several of the victims were attacked in their beds while they slept. Others believe that the killer may have been from a gang of criminals, rather than a lone individual. Regardless of who the Servant Girl Annihilator was, his legacy lives on in the history of true crime. The case has inspired countless works of fiction and non-fiction, and it continues to captivate audiences to this day. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chucktuck/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chucktuck/support

Red Web
The Serial Killer That Demanded Jazz Music | Axeman of New Orleans

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2023 81:47


In the early 1900s, the bustling city of New Orleans, Louisiana was terrorized by a serial killer. They attacked 12 people in their homes over the course of a year. What makes this case unusual is the alleged killer's promise - to spare those that played jazz music from their homes. While the reign of terror ended in 1919, the aftereffects are felt even in the present. Today, we look at the disturbing case of the Axeman of New Orleans.  Visit our Twitter page (https://twitter.com/RedWebPod) to see the images we discuss. If you'd like to listen to the past mysteries we discuss, they are: Servant Girl Annihilator (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xEQSMtKXwYYUQhlL7ygUP?si=6f33f69ed71a4254), Jack the Ripper (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1si23rEL6RmdCn5KtWi7Bo?si=c15d58f4824b44b5), and Winchester House (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TtmHny56KU0xLfEUd8wcM?si=ab4aba814ec84b55). Sponsored by BetterHelp (go to http://betterhelp.com/redweb to get 10% off your first month). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tenfold More Wicked
The Annihilator: The Midnight Assassin

Tenfold More Wicked

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2023 41:16


In 1884 and 1885, a series of terrible murders all points to one serial killer, dubbed the Servant Girl Annihilator. Eugene Burt, then a teenager, accompanies his father, the city physician, to one of the crime scenes—and he makes a terrible discovery. Twelve years later, Burt is beginning to act erratically after his father dies. Buy my books: katewinklerdawson.com If you have suggestions for historical crimes that could use some attention, particularly in your own family, email info@tenfoldmorewicked.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @tenfoldmorewicked (Facebook and Instagram)  2023 All Rights Reserved See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rippercast- Your Podcast on the Jack the Ripper murders
Off The Shelf: The Midnight Assassin

Rippercast- Your Podcast on the Jack the Ripper murders

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2022 38:52


Join Ally Ryder, Jon Rees and Jonathan Menges as they discuss Skip Hollandsworth's take on the Servant Girl Annihilator.

Midnight Train Podcast
The Servant Girl Annihilator (Your Jack the Ripper is Showing)

Midnight Train Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2022 108:18


Become a producer of the show and get your bonuses! Sign up for our Patreon! www.themidnighttrainpodcast.com    We've all heard the story of Jack the Ripper, right? Hell, we did a two-parter on the case not too long ago. You know the story. Some crazy person, running around hacking up people, disemboweling them, and nobody knows who it was. You know, that old chestnut. There were other cases similar to the Jack the Ripper case, like the Vallisca ax murders, the Hinterkaifeck Murders, and quite a few more that we've covered right here on the Midnight Train.    Well, this story is right in line with those unsolved atrocities and… it happened before Jack the Ripper decided to go all willy nilly and mutilate a bunch of poor women.   The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin (which is my favorite for obvious reasons), was a still, as of yet, unidentified serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The murderer's nickname originated with the writer O. Henry. Apparently he had mentioned the murderer in a letter he had written, coining the dipshit murderers name.   The brutal killings in Austin occurred three years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London's East End (and there are some who believe the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same person and we'll touch on that later). Although these murders happened 75 years before the term serial killer was coined, it still sealed Austin's reputation as the first city in America to have a serial killer — and the peice of crap responsible to be known as the first serial murderer in the country. Not exactly someone sane is running to be the first, but someone has to be the first something, right?   First, let's talk about Austin, Texas and a smidge of its history.   As per Wikipedia: Evidence of habitation of the Balcones Escarpment region of Texas can be traced to at least 11,000 years ago. Two of the oldest Paleolithic archeological sites in Texas, the Levi Rock Shelter and Smith Rock Shelter, are located southwest and southeast of present-day Austin respectively. Several hundred years before the arrival of European settlers, the area was inhabited by a variety of nomadic Native American tribes. These indigenous peoples fished and hunted along the creeks, including present-day Barton Springs, which proved to be a reliable campsite. At the time of the first permanent settlement of the area, the Tonkawa tribe was the most common, with the Comanches and Lipan Apaches also frequenting the area. The first European settlers in the present-day Austin were a group of Spanish friars who arrived from East Texas in July 1730. They established three temporary missions, La Purísima Concepción, San Francisco de los Neches and San José de los Nazonis, on a site by the Colorado River, near Barton Springs. The friars found conditions undesirable and relocated to the San Antonio River within a year of their arrival. Following Mexico's Independence from Spain, Anglo-American settlers began to populate Texas and reached present-day Central Texas by the 1830s. The first documented permanent settlement in the area dates to 1837 when the village of Waterloo was founded near the confluence of the Colorado River and Shoal Creek.   Got all that? Good… maybe you can explain it to me later. Just kidding… kind of. The victims   The first unfortunate victim was Mollie Smith, a 25-year-old cook working for the Walter Hall residence on Sixth Street (then named Pecan Street). She was killed on December 30, 1884, in a grisly killing filled with an extreme amount of blood due to the ax wounds to her head, abdomen, chest, legs, and arms. Her body was found outside and placed in the snow next to the family outhouse. She was attacked with an axe in her sleep, dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered. Walter Spencer, 30 yrs. old, also attacked and wounded.   The second poor victim was Eliza Shelly, a young woman who worked as a cook for the family of Dr. Lucian Johnson. Killed a few months after Mollie Smith, Shelly had been brutally murdered on Cypress Street on May 7, 1885, and her head left almost completely split from the blows of an axe. She was the mother of three children.   Because of the killer's apparent weapon of choice — an axe — the murders were first known as the Austin Axe Murders until a well-known resident, William Sydney Porter (that writer guy with the pen name, O. Henry) wrote in a letter to a friend: "Town is fearfully dull, except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively during the dead of night." After his letter became public, locals and reporters began referring to the murderer as the Servant Girl Annihilator.    On May 23, 1885, a third hapless woman, also a young servant person, became the next victim. Her name was Irene Cross and she lived on East Linden Street, just across from Scholz Garten. A reporter on the scene after her vicious attack stated that she looked as if she had been scalped. This victim was killed with a knife, as opposed to the aforementioned ax. Was this attack the work of the Annihilator or a different lunatic?    As summer dwindled down, August brought forth the arrival of a horrendous attack on Clara Dick. Later that month, another servant named Rebecca Ramey was wounded and her 11-year-old daughter Mary was killed.   At this time, the citizens of Austin were scared as shit and began protecting their homes with extra measures. Other cautions, such as increased patrols in neighborhoods, going home before sunset, and 24-hour saloons closing at midnight, we all also put into place. (It's worth noting that despite the legend, Austin's famous moontowers were not constructed during this time. They came later in the 1890s.)   Next victims were 20 year old Gracie Vance and her 25 year old boyfriend Orange Washington. They were sleeping in a shack behind the home of Vance's boss when the couple was brutally attacked with an ax. According to the local paper, Vance's "head was almost beaten into a jelly." Gracie was also dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered. Lucinda Boddy and Patsy Gibson, both only 17 yrs. old, were also attacked and wounded.    Weird note here, up to this point all the victims were African-American, but they were not all servant girls. And many noted that white residents had not been attacked. At least not yet.   The final two murders occurred on Christmas Eve (or possibly December 28th), 1885. First, 41 year old Sue Hancock, the mother of two, described as "one of the most refined ladies in Austin," was found in her backyard (now the Four Seasons Austin) by her husband. She had been dragged there while sleeping and succumbed to her wounds.   Hours later, 17 year old Eula Phillips, "one of the prettiest women in Austin," was found dead in her in-laws backyard (where the Austin Central Library is now located) she was also dragged into the back yard, raped and murdered. Her 24 year old husband, Jimmy Phillips Jr, sustained severe wounds in the attack. Ultimately, both spouses of Sue Hancock and Eula Phillips were accused, but found not guilty of the murders.   After the Christmas Eve murders in 1885, the killings stopped, but the fear was still palpable. At the time of the murders, Austin had been changing from a small frontier town to a cosmopolitan city, but the reputation it acquired because of the crimes put a halt to the city's growth.   The suspects Although approximately 400 men were eventually rounded up by authorities and questioned in the killings, all suspects were released and the murders remain unsolved. However, there are a few names from history that stand out as possible murder suspects.   Nathan Elgin was native of Austin and a young African-American domestic servant who knew the streets of his hometown.    The majority of this next part was taken from the website servantgirlmurders.com   Late one night in February 1886 a saloon in Masontown in east Austin was the scene of a violent and disturbing incident. The surrounding neighborhood was in an uproar because a drunken, raging man had dragged a girl from the saloon to a nearby house where he could be heard beating and cursing her while she screamed for help. The entire neighborhood had come out in the streets and the commotion caught the attention of a nearby police officer. Police officer John Bracken arrived on the scene and the saloon keeper, Dick Rogers and a neighbor, Claibe Hawkins, went with Bracken to stop the man from beating the girl to death.   Rogers and Hawkins went into the house and pulled the man away from the girl and into the front yard. As Rogers and Hawkins grappled with the man, Officer Bracken got out the handcuffs. The man would not be subdued – he threw off Rogers and Hawkins and knocked Bracken off his feet. The man turned on them and brandished a knife. As Bracken tried to recover a shot rang out. Bracken drew his pistol and fired. The shot brought down the raging man. The man's name was Nathan Elgin. There was no explanation for Elgin's rage at the girl, named Julia. Bracken's shot did not kill Elgin instantly but it did leave him paralyzed and mortally wounded; he died the following day. A subsequent autopsy revealed that Bracken's bullet had lodged in Elgin's spine which accounted for the paralysis. The doctors had also noticed another detail – Elgin was missing a toe from his right foot. During the investigations of the crimes the authorities had carefully noted the footprints which were often bloodstained and had made distinct impressions in the soil as the perpetrator carried the weight of the victim. Apart from general measurements of size and shape, footprints in most instances are not especially distinctive and they would not have been much use to the authorities had they not possessed some unusual feature. But the footprints left behind at the Servant Girl Murder crime scenes did share a very distinct feature – one of the footprints had only four toes. The authorities never shared this fact with the press or the general public during the course of 1885. The press frequently complained about the secrecy surrounding the murder inquests and argued that making all the details of the crimes public would facilitate the capture of the responsible parties more quickly. The authorities disagreed and kept certain details of the cases to themselves – details that they hoped would eventually identify the perpetrator and link him to the crime scenes. After Nathan Elgin's death the authorities unexpectedly had the direct physical evidence they had been waiting for – a foot that matched the distinctive footprints of the killer. But the foot belonged to a dead man. What were they to do with that information? What could they do with it? To imagine the state of mind of the authorities at that time one has to understand the heightened state of fear and suspicion that was present in Austin at the beginning of 1886. In the month since the last murders in December 1885, the city's police force had been tripled in size. A curfew had been enacted and private citizens had organized into patrols to guard the neighborhoods after dark. Strangers were forced to identify themselves or be evicted from the city. Saloons and other raucous downtown establishments, usually open twenty-four hours a day, were forced to close at midnight. A new era of law and order had begun. Would there have been any advantage in revealing that perhaps the midnight assassin was dead? And what if Elgin was not the mysterious murderer of servant girls? It was in the authorities' best interest to wait and see if the murders continued. Maybe the authorities believed they had gotten lucky – they couldn't arrest, prosecute of convict Elgin, but perhaps the problem had been solved. But in February 1886 it was still too early to be sure. It is important to remember that at the beginning of 1886, the Christmas Eve murders were not the last murders, simply the latest, and the investigations into the murders continued, notably with detectives still shadowing other suspects. While the authorities were not able to make use of the evidence against Elgin, the defense attorneys for James Phillips and Moses Hancock certainly were. Eula Phillips, wife of James Phillips, and Susan Hancock, wife of Moses Hancock, had both been murdered on December 24, 1885 and both husbands were subsequently charged with murdering their wives. In May 1886, during the trial of James Phillips, defense attorneys introduced into evidence floorboards marked with bloody footprints that had been removed from the Phillips house after the murder. They were compared to the footprints of the defendant, who removed his shoes and had his feet inked and printed in an elaborate demonstration in the courtroom. Even though Phillip's footprints were substantially different in size than the bloody footprints on the floorboards, the jury was unconvinced. The motives of jealousy and drunkenness as argued by the prosecution convinced the jury and they found Phillips guilty of second degree murder. When the case against Moses Hancock was finally brought to trial, the Hancock received some substantial legal help in the form of pro bono representation by John Hancock (no relation) a former U.S. Congressman, one of the state's most prominent political figures and one of Austin's most astute legal practitioners. Also providing assistance for the defense rather than the prosecution, was Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby, who during his testimony, described making a cast of Elgin's foot after his death, the significance of the missing toe, the similarities between Elgin's footprint and the footprints left at the Phillips and Ramey murders, and that fact that there had been no further servant girl murders committed since Elgin's death. Even so, the jury was not completely persuaded and after two days of deliberation, a hung jury was declared and the case was discharged without a verdict. The verdicts in the Phillips and Hancock trials illustrated the consensus on the Servant Girl Murders and the motives behind them – that the murders had been committed by different persons with conventional motives. Was Nathan Elgin the Servant Girl Annihilator? In my opinion, he most likely was based on 1) direct physical evidence linking Elgin to the crimes, 2) testimony of Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby as to Elgin's ostensible guilt, 3) the fact that there were no further Servant Girl Murders after his death, and 4) Elgin fits the criminal profile of such a killer. *** Nathan Elgin – A Criminology The Servant Girl Murders were over 130 years ago and few official records pertaining to them have survived. Likewise, there is little surviving biographical information about Nathan Elgin, however the information that is available strongly correlates to traits associated with a Disorganized/Anger-Retaliatory (D/AR) serial killer profile, and the crime scenes of the Servant Girl Murders correspond exactly to that of anger-retaliatory crime scenes: In the anger-retaliatory rape-murder, the rape is planned and the initial murder involves overkill. It is an anger-venting act that expresses symbolic revenge on a female victim. Nettled by poor relationships with women, the aggressor distills his anguish and contempt into explosive revenge on the victim… the aggressive killer will either direct his anger at that woman or redirect his anger to a substitute woman. Because the latter type of scapegoating retaliation does not eliminate the direct source of hate, it is likely that it will be episodically repeated to relieve internal stresses. Dynamically, the rape-homicide is committed in a stylized violent burst attack for purposes of retaliation, getting even, and revenge on women. The perpetrator tends to choose victims from familiar areas… and may use weapons of opportunity in percussive assaults with fists, blunt objects or a knife. The subject tends to leave a disorganized crime scene, and the improvised murder weapon may be found within 15 feet of the body. The following traits are common to the D/AR serial killer profile and I would argue that they are present in the historical record specifically in connection to Nathan Elgin: childhood abuse or neglect early violent episodes violent fantasy resentment of authority escalation stressors Additionally, Nathan Elgin would have possessed the locational expertise critical to successfully enacting the murders and eluding the authorities, culminating in a distinctive signature killing style – the attack on sleeping female victim using blunt force to the head, carrying the body away from the house into the yard where the victim was then raped. Childhood Abuse Suspicions All of the murderers were subjected to serious emotional abuse during their childhoods. And all of them developed into what psychiatrists label as sexually dysfunctional adults.  From birth to age six or seven, studies have shown, the most important adult figure in a child's life is the mother, and it is in this time period that the child learns what love is. Relationships between our subjects and their mothers were uniformly cool, unloving and neglectful. (4) The disorganized offender grows up in a household where the father's work is often unstable, where childhood discipline is harsh, and where the family is subject to serious strain brought on by alcohol, mental illness, and the like. (5) One of the primary components in the creation of the D/AR serial killer profile is a dysfunctional, abusive relationship within the family and especially between the mother and the subject. The mothers often have psychological disorders or they have been victims of emotional and sexual abuse themselves and are then subsequently abusive with their own children. At best the mothers are emotionally distant and at worst they are physically and psychologically abusive. Nathan Elgin was born in 1866, the fourth of five children in his family. The Elgin family had moved to Austin from Arkansas after the war, to the freedman's community that came to be known as Wheatville. Nathan had three older siblings that had already married, started their own families and evidently lived normal lives while Nathan was still a child growing up in Austin. However the older siblings' mother, Angeline, had been a different woman than Nathan's mother, Susan. (6) There is no record of what happened to Angeline, she presumably died or separated from her husband, Richard Elgin, but after she left, a woman named Susan Pearce appeared in her place to raise Nathan – whether she was his biological mother is unknown. I think this substitution in the maternal line is significant and I would speculate that Susan Pearce was an abusive catalyst in Nathan's emotional development. The 1880 census listed 14-year-old Nathan Elgin as still living with his parents; it noted his ability to read and write, and his occupation as “servant.” He was likely placed into service by his mother. For Nathan, being a domestic servant at that period in time would have entailed working in an environment with Victorian strictures and discipline, submitting to the authority of women, both black and white, carrying out whatever tasks were ordered without argument.  Habitual abuse or humiliation of young Nathan could have been facilitated by such conditions and it is easy to imagine him having suffered abuse in such a position considering the rage directed at this particular class of women only a few years later. Any abuse Nathan experienced as a child without having the physical ability to stop it, would in the meantime have fueled an inner world of revenge fantasy and anger waiting to be unleashed. Not until he was a teenager would he finally gain the physical ability to express that anger, except toward whomever was the source. The source or its memory, the humiliation and shame they had used to define him, would retain the ability to make him feel helpless and impotent. The result, once he had gained maturity, would be not just fantasies of rage, but their physical expression, enacted again and again upon victims who were substitute for its source. Early Violent Episodes – Resentment of Authority – Violent Fantasy These adolescents overcompensated for the aggression in their early lives by repeating the abuse in fantasy – but, this time, with themselves as the aggressors. He is seen as an explosive personality who is impulsive, quick-tempered, and self-centered. In the summer of 1881, Nathan Elgin was arrested for carrying a pistol and getting into a confrontation with another young man near the Governor's mansion, “they cursed each other for some time and aroused the neighborhood.” Such incidents were not particularly remarkable for that time period and the newspaper frequently reported similar skirmishes between young “bloods,” however it does demonstrate that Elgin already had a violent disposition at a young age.   More remarkable was an incident in 1882, when Elgin sent a threatening letter to a deputy sheriff promising to “whip destroy and kill” the deputy the next time they met. The written expression of violent threats and fantasies, especially toward the police or other authorities, is one of the classic serial killer tells. Nathan's letter was described “reckless and bloodthirsty” in the newspaper, a description that would later be more fittingly applied to the murders of 1885.  Locational Expertise Apart from committing the murders in the middle of the night and using the cover of darkness for concealment, an intimate knowledge of the city would have been key to the killer's ability to elude the authorities. Nathan Elgin had locational expertise – he had grown up in Austin as it was being built. As a child in the 1870s he would have seen the wood-framed buildings that lined Congress Avenue and Pecan Street replaced by brick and mortar storefronts. He would have seen the streets graded and the wooded hills cleared for elegant neighborhoods, schools and churches. By 1885 he would have been intimately familiar with how the city worked and moved. He would have known all the shortcuts, the hiding places, which yards had dogs, which doors were left unlocked. He would have known how to go unnoticed and he would have known what was around every corner. Escalation The disorganized killer has no idea of, or interest in, the personalities of the victims. He does not want to know who they are, and many times takes steps to obliterate their personalities by quickly knocking them unconscious or covering their faces or otherwise disfiguring them.  [The victim] will often have horrendous wounds. [The killer] does not move the body or conceal it. The offender is usually somewhat younger than his victims.  In July 1884, there were two instances of women, both African American, being stabbed in the face as they slept. The women survived; the authorities investigated them as separate incidents. In August 1884, an African American woman was struck in the head with a smoothing iron as she slept. These nocturnal attacks, though not fatal, were so idiosyncratic in style that they must have been a fledgling attempt by an anger-retaliatory killer who would later escalate with gruesome results.  In November 1884, police reports mentioned a non-fatal nocturnal assault on a domestic servant as she slept in her bed. This incident never appeared in the newspaper.  A little over a month later, an African American woman named Mollie Smith was struck in the head with an axe as she slept; she was dragged into the backyard and raped. Her body was hacked to pieces by the killer and left at the scene.  Mollie Smith's murder set the pattern for all that followed. Locational Expertise and Escalation and Signature in the Vance/Washington and Hancock/Phillips Murders The disorganized killer doesn't choose victims logically, and so often takes a victim at high risk to himself, one not selected because he or she can be easily controlled…  …the assault continues until the subject is emotionally satisfied  The killer's personal expression takes the form of his unique signature, an imprint left by him at the scene, an imprint the killer is psychologically compelled to leave to satisfy himself sexually. After four murders the killer had become very adept and perhaps overly confident and by the time he entered the cabin of Gracie Vance he was confident enough to attack four persons simultaneously. Gracie Vance was a domestic servant employed by William Dunham and she lived, along with Orange Washington, in a cabin in the rear of his property. When the killer entered Gracie's cabin, instead of finding a solitary sleeping woman, he found three women and one man. Undeterred he proceeded to incapacitate all four as quickly as possible; however, one of the women was only briefly insensible and she went for help while the crime was still in progress. Neighbors were awakened by the disturbance and the police were called. Dunham and the neighbors went to investigate and a man was seen fleeing the scene. They fired their pistols at him as he made his escape in the darkness. As with the other victims, Gracie Vance was found in the backyard; her face had been pulverized with a rock. The suspect had fled in the direction of Wheatville, just to the west — the neighborhood Nathan Elgin had grown up in.  The Christmas Eve murders were in many ways the skeleton key to all the murders in that they demonstrated all the specific facets of the killer's MO and signature — his locational expertise, his ability to improvise and adjust at the scene as well as his emotional escalation which demonstrated the extent to which he would go to enact a very specific sex murder scenario – an attack in the bedroom upon a sleeping victim, then rape and murder in the backyard – even when the completion of that scenario was problematic.  Susan Hancock, unlike the other victims, was white, but other than that, the murder was carried out identically to the previous murders. It is unlikely the killer had the specific intent to select a white victim; rather something about the location, the house, and the fact that there was an axe in the backyard attuned to the killer's preferences. As with the other victims, Susan Hancock was struck in the head with an axe while she slept and then carried into the backyard. Susan's husband was asleep in another room but was awakened by the disturbance. He went into the backyard, saw a figure standing over his wife and threw a brick at him. Even though the perpetrator was armed with an axe he didn't retaliate against Hancock – instead he fled the scene by jumping over a fence into the alley. Hancock then ran to the east side of the house to cut him off but he wasn't there.  Instead of fleeing into the darkness, the perpetrator ran west, back toward Congress Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare. This peculiar evasion demonstrated that the perpetrator was very confident about where he was going — that he expected he could hide in plain sight. It is interesting to note that had Hancock gone west to cut off the fleeing perpetrator he might have been able to stop him, which could have brought a definitive resolution to the murderous events of that year. However, seeing the perpetrator had escaped he went back to his wife and called for help. Heading toward Congress Avenue, the perpetrator cut through the yard of the residence of May Tobin where his sudden appearance out of the darkness startled a young woman and her male companion – in his haste he could have literally run into the young woman. A confrontation occurs – the man threatens and insults him in demeaning and racist terms, perhaps the woman does too. The perpetrator has to retreat again and this would have been too much. The urge to kill had not been satisfied and would only have intensified after a humiliating confrontation. He follows the couple's cab across town to the residence of James Phillips. The cab arrives, the young woman, Eula Phillips, discreetly makes her way into the quiet house. Less than an hour later she is found in the backyard, raped and murdered. The killer could have dispatched Mr. Hancock and completed the crime at the Hancock residence but he did not. Likewise, he could have attempted to kill Eula and her companion in the relative seclusion of May Tobin's premises. Instead, the killer's primary motivation was the realization of a very specific violent sexual murder scenario. I believe a confrontation must have occurred at May Tobin's residence between Eula Phillips, her imperious companion, John Dickinson, and a very volatile Nathan Elgin. The confrontation had to have made him angry enough to pursue her across town — even though he had no idea where they were going or what he would find when he got there. I believe he was so angry that he pursued her at his own peril, when other, easier opportunities for a kill were in closer proximity. The bloody footprints left at the Phillips house would subsequently be affirmatively compared to the footprints of the deceased Elgin.  Austin Daily Statesman 3 June 1887 Stressors …by the very nature of their childhood, serial killers are most likely to lead lives full of stressful events. As children and adolescents they lack self-esteem, are isolated and maladjusted, and are therefore poorly prepared for coping with life as adults.  Historically, the retaliatory killer's marriage will have been ill-fated and he will usually be in some phase of estrangement. …If he has a relationship, there will have generally been a history of long-term spousal abuse, which will not likely have been covered by criminal complaints.  In the study of serial sexual homicides, a “stressor” is defined as an event, interaction or conflict in which the killer is reminded of past humiliations and abuses. To purge his feelings of shame, inadequacy or powerlessness the killer will endeavor to enact a murderous scene in which he is powerful and in total control. In the case of Nathan Elgin, there is a remarkable example of a pre-crime stressor in the instance of his wife, Sallie, giving birth to a child the same night two women were being murdered on Christmas Eve. I believe that this was more than a coincidence and whatever stressors Elgin was susceptible to were triggered by this event. While the birth of a child would not normally seem to be cause for a murderous rampage, in the case of a D/AR profile it very well could. Nathan had married Sallie Wheat in 1882. She was a year older than him. They did not live together. It is not unusual for serial killers to be married, however it is rare in the case of the D/AR killer profile because of their volatile temperament towards women. Sallie could have held the power in the relationship; conversely she could have been subjected to abuse herself. There is an indication that Sallie was aware, at least subsequently, of Nathan's responsibility for the murders – as a means of disassociation she raised Nathan's son under the surname Davis rather than Elgin.  Post Mortem We read a great deal of theorizing about the series of murders in Austin, that all the assassinations were the work of a cunning lunatic — a monomaniac on the subject of murder.  From what I can learn, I don't believe anything of the kind, and it is my deliberate opinion that these murders can not only be unearthed, but when probed to the bottom, it will be found that they were committed by different individuals and that in each case they were prompted by lust, jealousy, or hatred. (27) A Monomaniac On the Subject of Murder would be an apt title for a 19th century dime novel. The quote above by Waco Marshal Luke Moore was closer to the truth than he realized but the ideas he articulated were not exclusive; Nathan Elgin was indeed a monomaniac on the subject of murder and he was motivated by lust, hatred and revenge. In contemporary criminal investigations of serial sexual homicides, law enforcement will have decades of criminal profiles at their disposal which have been painstakingly created as a resource to match types of murders to specific types of offenders. In other words, they know who they're looking for. And the more unusual the murders, the easier it is to focus the investigation toward a specific type of offender. If the Servant Girl Murders were committed in this day and age and the perpetrator had left behind similar evidence, contemporary forensic resources and methods would create a criminal profile and evidence collected could confirm or eliminate potential suspects. The perpetrator would most likely be apprehended very quickly. Serial killers who are apprehended and convicted are later questioned extensively by the authorities and they are usually quiet happy to talk about themselves because they frequently have an inherent superiority complex and are eager to expound upon their mastery and superiority even though they are behind bars. It is interesting to note that the wounded Elgin was not interviewed by reporters, which was unusual – almost everyone involved in a shooting at that period in time had a reporter waiting for them after being attended to by a physician. Nor did the police make any statement regarding Elgin. The inquest of his death was held in secret. Elgin most likely spent his last hours delirious as doctors made a futile attempt at finding and removing the bullet that entered his side and lodged in his spine. If Elgin's murder spree had followed the trajectory of most disorganized serial killers, he would have continued to escalate until his confidence overcame his self-restraint and he would have eventually been caught or killed fleeing the scene. Hypothetically, if he had been arrested for a murder, unless he specifically admitted to it, I doubt the authorities would have connected him to all the murders. Had he been arrested and interrogated I think Elgin would have baffled the police, but they wouldn't have spent much time contemplating him; he would have undoubtedly been indicted, tried and hung in short order. The newspaper account of him would have been a typically villainous caricature from that time period, and people today would still wonder if he was responsible. So now, another suspect and a possible connection to Jack The Ripper.   The next suspect was Maurice (no last name given), a Malaysian cook who worked at the Pearl House in downtown Austin. The Pearl House had connections to a majority of the victims of the Annihilator, therefore this theory took off like a mother fucker..   Allegedly, once Maurice left Austin only 3 weeks after the last murder, bound for New Orleans and ultimately London, the murders ended. And although the killings by Jack the Ripper were arguably more brutal in nature, many believe the Austin and London killers were actually the same person — a murderer that began to escalate his killings. Something that has been studied and noted by psychologists and other people smarter than us. Maurice apparently told acquaintances at the hotel that he was going to work aboard ships as a cook to earn his passage to London for a fresh start. A little known fact: the cook Maurice was actually suspected after the last murder and put under surveillance   According to Reddit author Sciencebzzt:   So many people who follow the Ripper case seem to want him to be a suave, elegant dude. A surgeon or a royal or a tormented upper class freak of some kind. But the facts don't suggest that. People say whoever killed the girls must have been skilled with a blade, that may be true, but the "brutality" suggests they were cut up like animals, skinned and gutted almost. The way a butcher... or a cook... might. Anyway, back to Austin in 1886. Most experts on serial killers will tell you it's unlikely that the murders will just stop, unless the murderer is dead, in prison, or has moved elsewhere. In fact, most will say that the serial killers M.O. usually evolves, and changes... while the main motivation doesn't. This would explain the difference in the Ripper murders 3 years later... and also why they seem to have the same extremely brutal motivations. Jack the Ripper didn't use an axe the way the Servant Girl Annihilator did, however, this may have been because an axe was not a common thing to carry around in 1888 London, the largest city in the world at the time. In 1884 Austin, a town of 10,000 at the westernmost terminus of a railroad line, an axe was likely less conspicuous. The scariest part though... is what happened after 1888. Whoever "he" was, he was obviously a highly driven, aggressive murderer, and he already had success (probably) in leaving Austin and getting away with murder. Well, consider this: After 1888, similar serial murders of women started happening in port towns along major trade routes, like Nicaragua, Tunis, and Jamaica. If the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same man, given the highly aggressive style, brutality and rapid succession of the murders, one quickly after the other... it's likely he killed far, far more girls than we know about, all over the world.   Did Maurice leave to avoid the authorities and escalate his murders or did her simply leave because his reputation was tarnished?    The Jack the ripper murders were allegedly from april 3 1888 to 1891.    The Vallisca ax murders were on June 10th, 1912   New orleans ax murders May 1918 to October 1919   I spent countless hours looking up ship records from 1886 and there is one record of a “Maurice” that went to England from the US. The funny thing is, his name was Maurice Kelly. The Ripper's last known and documented victim was Mary Jane Kelly. It's probably just a coincidence but what if it isn't?   TOP 10 MOVIES BASED ON REAL UNSOLVED MYSTERIES https://www.watchmojo.com/video/id/44882

Dark and Devious
Episode 62: The Servant Girl Annihilator of Austin, TX.

Dark and Devious

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2022 71:09


A series of horrifying events in the late 1880s — better known as the Servant Girl Annihilator or Servant Girl Murders — that first left local citizens of Austin, Texas, paralyzed with fear. The brutal killings in Austin occurred three years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London's East End (and there are some who believe the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same person). Although these murders happened 75 years before the term serial killer was coined, it still sealed Austin's reputation as the first city in America to have a serial killer. Listen now for details on this fascinating cold case that has many potential leads for an answer. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/patrick-conn/support

Malice & Mocktails
Episode 3: The Servant Girl Annihilator & the Austin Moon Towers

Malice & Mocktails

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2022 77:42


Austin, Texas, 1884. There is a killer on the loose, seemingly targeting servant women and girls. Join me and my guest co-host, Emily, as we dive into this unsolved case and explore possible theories. This episode ran a bit long and I decided to just go with it :-) A HUGE thank you to Chris Marshall with Sans Bar for this week's mocktail recipe. You can find the full recipe HERE. Check out Sans Bar at https://www.thesansbar.com! SOURCES & RESOURCES Hollandsworth, Skip. Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer. New York: Picador, 2015. https://library.austintexas.gov/ahc/brief-history-austin http://www.servantgirlmurders.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_tower https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/texas/austin/articles/how-a-19th-century-serial-killer-led-to-austins-moonlight-towers/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/austin-moonlight-towers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Austin,_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_Girl_Annihilator https://www.statesman.com/story/news/history/2019/05/23/on-christmas-day-1871-austins-first-railroad-altered-city-forever/5079567007/ https://www.kvue.com/article/news/history/austin-moonlight-towers-origins-history/269-88b34d2f-0d99-4c7d-851e-ae9258b880f2 https://austonia.com/servant-girl-annihilator https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-jun-10-1886-p-7/ https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/texas-servant-girl-murders/ https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-may-14-1885-p-3/ https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-may-28-1885-p-4/ https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-dec-31-1885-p-7/ https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-jan-07-1886-p-5/ https://newspaperarchive.com/the-austin-weekly-statesman-may-27-1886-p-5/

Criminally Drunk
James Maybrick Part 2: Trouble in Texas

Criminally Drunk

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2022 33:35


The guys continue their analysis of the life of James Maybrick with the reign of the Servant Girl Annihilator. Was James involved? Who was the Annihilator? What will happen to James? Find out on the second part of our three-part series!

A Long Crime Ago
Brain Jelly

A Long Crime Ago

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2022 41:54


What does the Servant Girl Annihilator, the Austin Axe Murderer, and the Midnight Assassin have in common? They're all the same person and we'll be discussing the heinous crimes committed by *him* in this episode.

Margs and Mayhem
The Mexican Martini: The Servant Girl Annihilator

Margs and Mayhem

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2022 31:10


Austin, Texas, 1884. A city that was on the very edge of modernity. A town that had grown by almost 5x in population in twenty years. Some were calling Austin the Athens of the West. Indeed, there were not one, not two, but three colleges to study at. You could buy one of 10,000 books at Gammel's, downtown, and the sunset red granite was being laid for what would be the largest state capitol in the country (and yes, also bigger than the U.S. Capitol). Granite, I might add, that still emits trace radiation over a hundred years later. Children were known to ride around town on velocipedes, or bicycles. But among the life springing forth in Texas' capital city was a midnight monster determined to end life. A murderer so unusually violent and random that history would dub them America's first serial killer. Mexican Martini Recipe: 2 parts tequila 1 part Sprite 2 parts triple sec 1 part lime juice splash of olive juice Mix all ingredients in a shaker Strain over fresh ice in a salt-rimmed glass Garnish with an olive (or two!) Next week's ingredients: tequila, lime juice, lemon juice, gin, champagne, simple syrup ----- The Midnight Assassin by Skip Hollandsworth: https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Assassin-Americas-Serial-Killer/dp/1250118492 Capital Murder by Skip Hollandsworth: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/capital-murder/ Austin's Moon Towers: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/travel/austins-moon-towers-beyond-dazed-and-confused.html#:~:text=I%20was%20joined%20at%20the,in%20%E2%80%9CDazed%20and%20Confused.%E2%80%9D ----- Got an idea for a case? Hang out with us on Insta! https://www.instagram.com/margsandmayhem We're also on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/margsandmayhem TikityTok Clock App! https://www.tiktok.com/@margsandmayhem Tweet Tweet! https://www.twitter.com/margsandmayhem ----- Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. My videos are always made by researching a large variety of sources, and any appearance of similarities is purely coincidental. For any potential issues, or to reach out to me for any reason, please email margsandmayhem@gmail.com. ----- Music Credit: “Down In The Delta” Artist: Stoney Waters Composer Stoney Waters Audio Source: PremiumBeat.com License: #3879157

Brutal Nation
EPISODE 148: WHODUNIT WEDNESDAY-THE SERVANT GIRL ANNIHILATOR

Brutal Nation

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2022 43:20


EPISODE 148: WHODUNIT WEDNESDAY THE SERVANT GIRL ANNIHILATOR --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scott-alexander74/support

Red Web
America's First Serial Killer | Servant Girl Annihilator

Red Web

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2022 60:33


In Austin, Texas, there were a series of brutal murders in the years of 1884 and 1885. The mystery remains unsolved. Today, we look at one of the first serial killers that operated in the United States, known as the Servant Girl Annihilator. Visit our Twitter page (http://Twitter.com/RedWebPod) to see the images we discuss. If you'd like to listen to past mysteries we referenced in this episode, they are: Jack the Ripper (https://spoti.fi/341kmnF). Sponsored by Babbel (http://Babbel.com + code REDWEB) and The Jordan Harbinger Show (http://JordanHarbinger.com/START).

Whiskey and Wino
New Year's Eve

Whiskey and Wino

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2021


Welcome to the new year! We are excited to be back. This week we talk about the New Year's Eve superstitions and hear a wild story of The Servant Girl Annihilator.

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)
PEMpodcast - Episode 1 - The Servant Girl Annihilator

Psychic Eye Mysteries Podcast (PEMpodcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 80:18


In the pilot episode of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, Victoria Laurie - professional psychic - uses her intuition to take a look at the unsolved mystery of America's first recorded serial killer - the Servant Girl Annihilator - and she gets into a detailed description of the killer and his motives.

america servant girl annihilator victoria laurie psychic eye mysteries pempodcast
Cocktails, Mocktails, and Crime
Servant Girl Annihilator

Cocktails, Mocktails, and Crime

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2021 54:26


America's First Serial Killer struck in Austin, Texas in December 1884. The murders were grisly and some believe that this same killer went on to become Jack the Ripper.

Dark. Damned. & Disturbed.
20. SERIAL KILLER: The Servant Girl Annihilator

Dark. Damned. & Disturbed.

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2021 42:10


In post civil war Austin, Texas a number of young women were murdered, injured, and raped, all in horrific manners, but eerily similar. http://www.servantgirlmurders.com/about-the-victims/ http://www.servantgirlmurders.com/locations-of-the- murders/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3119890/eliza-shelly- servant-girl-annihilator/ http://americankillers.org/cms/index.php/the-axeman-of- austin http://www.servantgirlmurders.com/the-servant-girl- annihilator/ #:~:text=The%20surrounding%20neighborhood%20was%20 in,while%20she%20screamed%20for%20help.

The Devil's Hour: A Podcast For The Strange & Unusual
Episode 7: The Servant Girl Annihilator: The Mysterious Austin Texas Serial Killer

The Devil's Hour: A Podcast For The Strange & Unusual

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2021 64:17


Three years before Jack the ripper claimed his victims in London and eight years before HH Holmes haunted the World Fair with his murder castle, an unidentified killer would begin a killing spree right here in Austin, Texas that would claim the lives of eight victims. This very well may be America's first true serial killer. But who was this killer? Why did the killings suddenly stop? Why were they never caught? And why is this serial killer and case so little talked about or known? To this day this obscure case remains unsolved.

Horrendous: A Best Friends Podcast
B-Side 12. The Servant Girl Annihilator

Horrendous: A Best Friends Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2021 27:39


This B-Side Callie tells us about the Servant Girl Murders. A little known story, Callie breaks down the series of murders and suspects, and breaks Elizabeth's brain with a twist at the end. We hope you enjoy Callie's first try at a true crime story. Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com Find us on Facebook @ horrendous.podcast, Twitter @horrendouspod, Instagram @horrendous.podcast, Twitch @ horredouspod, Patreon @ horrendouspodcast, email us @ horrendous.podcast@gmail.com, website @ https://horrendouspodcast.com/ Affiliates with: https://www.boredwalktshirts.com/ Discount code: BESTIE for 10% off AND Grove Collaborative grove.pxf.io/horrendous for free stuff with your purchase! As always, thank you so much for the support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/horrendouspod/support

todsicher
Episode 19: Der Axtmörder von Austin, Servant Girl Annihilator

todsicher

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2021 61:19


Wieder ein ungelöster Fall! Diesmal erzählt euch Paula etwas vom axtschwingenden Mörder aus Austin, Texas. Er mordete zu einer Zeit, in der die Sklaverei in Amerika leider noch viel zu präsent war und manche seine Opfer dadurch nicht die Aufmerksamkeit bekommen haben, die sie verdient hätten. Doch was hat der sogenannte Servant Girl Annihilator mit Jack the Ripper zu tun? Quellen: http://www.servantgirlmurders.com/ https://the-line-up.com/servant-girl-annihilator-austin https://www.ranker.com/list/servant-girl-annihilator-theories/katherine-ripley https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/The_ServantGirl_Annihilator GEMAfreie Musik von https://audiohub.de

The Arcanum Project
The Servant Girl Annihilator

The Arcanum Project

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2021 62:14


From 1884 to 1885, in a rapidly growing Austin, Texas, young servant girls were being murdered. Then, the murders just stopped. Over one hundred years later, people still wonder about a his identity.Join us for the Arcanum Project on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-arcanum.../id1535346435Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XXzumJJX2HZvE79RnrwwEStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-arcanum-projectPodchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/TheArcanumProjectiHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-arcanum-project-73780918/ Find research references and pictures for each episode at: https://www.facebook.com/ArcanumProjectPodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/arcanum_project_podcast/https://twitter.com/ArcanumProject Research for this episode:https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94680/how-servant-girl-annihilator-terrorized-1880s-austinhttp://www.servantgirlmurders.com/https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/texas-servant-girl-murders/https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austins-servant-girl-annihilator-serial-killer-continues-to-baffle-investigators/269-6992902d-67d8-4c43-a212-806901b68a49http://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-servant-girl-unsolved-and.htmlhttps://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/10-10-18-servant-girl-murders-history/Music By:  https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5738-aquarium

Get Outer Here
6: Ashlyn and Kel-Crime Solvers

Get Outer Here

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2020 64:38


Today the girls solve some crimes. Kel covers the creepy story of america's first serial killer- the Servant Girl Annihilator of Austin Texas. Is he related to more crimes after he flees Texas and moves to london? Nobody knows. (But Kel does.) Ashlyn gets into the story of Jonbenet Ramsey, Americas cutest six year old whose career came to an unfortunate end. Her murder still remains a mystery. (Until now. Ashlyn solved it.) #thebrotherdidittheparentshidit Love us? Let us know on instagram @getouterhere and in our email at getouterhere@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kelley-and-ashlyn/support

Morning Cup of Murder - Year One
250: The Unsolved Case of The Servant Girl Annihilator - December 30 2019 - Today In True Crime History

Morning Cup of Murder - Year One

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2019 7:54


Keep up with current episodes of Morning Cup of Murder at morningcupofmurder.com Beginning on December 30th 1884 the city of Austin, Texas was sent into a tailspin with the first of 7 women were brutally murdered with a gaping hole in her head. The Servant Girl Annihilator preyed upon women for a year and his identity remains unknown. So, why haven't you heard about this before? Because another famous murderer was at large just across the pond just 3 years later, erasing the news headlines in Austin. And, in an interesting twist, these men may be one in the same. Servant Girl Annihilator's First Victim (1884) Become a supporter of this podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/morningcupofmurder Follow Morning Cup of Murder on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cupofmurder @cupofmurder Follow MCOM on Instagram: @morningcupofmurder Have a Murder or strange true crime story you want to share, email the show here: morningcupofmurder@gmail.com Morning Cup of Murder is researched, written and performed by Korina Biemesderfer. Follow Korina on Instagram: @kbiemesderfer

The Historical Paranormal
The Servant Girl Annihilator

The Historical Paranormal

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2019 29:01


The serial murders of mainly servant girls took place in Austin, Texas in 1885. They were never solved, but have been attributed to many over the years-some famous and some not so famous. 

The Creepover
Alli Is A Servant Girl (The Night Stalker)

The Creepover

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2019 62:39


Join Alli & Kathryn as they trash talk more serial killers. GHOST STORIES: Libby & Conor share the tale of Kathy G. CREEPED OUT: Ghost fears and exploding beers. STRANGER THAN FICTION: Alli dishes on the horrid Richard Ramirez, AKA the Night Stalker . . . NOT Night Prowler. KEEP THE LIGHTS ON: The ghouls watch that seminal serial killer classic, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. WITCH, PLEASE: The girls reach out via spirit box to the Servant Girl Annihilator. WORDS. BUMP IN THE NIGHT: Father Time. BONUS: Calypso shower scene, mob justice, corpse mother practical jokes.