The Morbid History Podcast

They called it the New Deal.   A promise. A lifeline. It was the most ambitious expansion of federal protection for working Americans in the nation's history, and was designed to pull a broken country back from the edge of collapse.   But buried in the fine print were some sneaky words that changed everything.   In 1935 and 1938, Southern Democrats struck a deal with the Roosevelt Administration. They would support the New Deal, but made sure to carve out the occupations held overwhelmingly by Black Americans.   Three laws. Three trapdoors.   In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the New Deal's darkest compromise—how the legislation that saved white America was deliberately engineered to leave Black America behind. Because sometimes the most effective forms of racism aren't the ones written in fire. They're the ones written in fine print.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Every utopia has a founder. Every founder has a vision.   And someone always pays for it.   In this episode, we examine the dark history of intentional communities — promised lands built on someone else's labor, someone else's body, or someone else's silence. From a New York commune that ran America's first eugenics program and pivoted to silverware, to a 64,000-acre Oregon ranch whose vision of enlightened community ended in the largest bioterrorism attack in U.S. history.   Because utopias don't fail because people are incapable of community.   They fail when perfection becomes more important than consent. And the walls go up before anyone notices.    Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

He was just going to the corner store.   In 1981, Michael Donald never made it home.   Two members of the Ku Klux Klan had been driving the streets of Mobile, Alabama with a gun and a rope — looking for any Black man they could find.   But this isn't just the story of a murder. It's the story of what his mother did next.   In this episode, we follow Beulah Mae Donald — a single mother from a Mobile housing project — as she took the most powerful Klan faction in America to civil court, and didn't stop until she had bankrupted the entire organization.   Because sometimes justice doesn't come from a gavel. Sometimes it comes from a mother who refuses to quit.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Some stories are too strange for fiction. Others are just too inconvenient for runtime.   In this episode, we go behind the screen — examining the true events Hollywood borrowed, polished, and quietly edited before selling them back to us. From Hugh Glass, mauled by a grizzly and left for dead in the Dakota wilderness, to twenty-one men adrift in the Pacific after a sperm whale sank their ship — and what they did to survive.   Because the real stories are full of people who don't get monuments. Who don't get to the third act. Who drew the wrong lot.   Based on a true story. But which true story? And whose?   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

They were small enough to fit. That’s why they chose them.   In 18th- and 19th-century England, thousands of young boys were forced to climb inside narrow chimneys to scrape away soot. They were underfed to keep them small. Burned if they hesitated. Suffocated if they slipped.   But the worst horror didn’t come in childhood.   Years later, many of these former climbing boys developed a brutal and highly aggressive cancer known as Chimney Sweep’s Carcinoma... a disease that slowly rotted their bodies from the inside out, killing many before their 30th birthday.   In this episode, we descend into the ash-covered truth of Victorian industry, where comfort was built on child labor, and warm hearths were purchased with young lives.   Because sometimes the darkest things in history aren’t monsters. They’re systems.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Some crimes are chaotic. Others are calculated.   In this episode, we examine history’s most notorious heists—beginning with the 1990 robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where thieves walked out with priceless masterpieces that have never been recovered. From there, we trace legendary robberies across trains, sewers, skies, and vaults—culminating in the audacious Antwerp Diamond Heist, a crime so precise it shattered the myth of an impenetrable fortress.   These weren’t just thefts. They were demonstrations.   Because sometimes crime doesn’t look violent. Sometimes it looks brilliant.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

For centuries, mental illness wasn’t treated… it was controlled.   In this episode, we step inside the brutal history of insane asylums and early psychiatric “care,” beginning with Bethlem Royal Hospital, where madness became public spectacle.   From there, we trace the rise of lobotomies in the United States and examine the therapies that promised healing while delivering silence: insulin comas, ice baths, rotational chairs, hysteria diagnoses, and institutional abuse at places like Willowbrook State School.   These weren’t cures. They were compliance—disguised as medicine.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

He didn’t die on the Senate floor. But a part of him never left it.   In this episode, we examine the life and legacy of Charles Sumner—an abolitionist senator who stood against slavery, demanded Black equality, and bled in the halls of Congress after a brutal caning by Representative Preston Brooks in 1856.   The attack left him with brain trauma and what we now call PTSD. But it didn’t end his mission.   We follow Sumner through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and into his final battles for justice. It's a story highlighting how one man’s refusal to stay silent reshaped the American conscience… and cost him everything.   Because sometimes, progress doesn’t come from handshakes. It comes from standing up after the blows.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Ghost stories used to be whispered around campfires. Now they’re printed on mugs.   In this episode, we explore how ghost lore in America went from local legends to full-fledged tourism industry... complete with haunted hotels, cemetery tours, and “spirit weekend packages.” From Victorian mourning rituals to Stephen King’s night at the Stanley Hotel, from Salem to Savannah, we follow the ghostly transformation of fear into profit.   Because when it comes to American hauntings, the spirits aren’t the only ones trying to make contact.   So check in, if you dare. And don’t mind the knocking.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Hollywood loves a good curse. But what if the real horror isn’t supernatural at all?   In this episode of Morbid History, we step behind the camera to examine the films said to be “cursed”—from The Twilight Zone: The Movie, where a fatal on-set disaster changed Hollywood forever, to The Omen, a production haunted by a trail of eerie coincidences and tragedy.   Along the way, we explore the chaos surrounding The Exorcist, the deaths linked to Poltergeist, the fatal negligence that killed Brandon Lee during The Crow, and the obsession-driven productions of Apocalypse Now and Fitzcarraldo.   These aren’t stories about haunted sets or angry spirits. They’re stories about pressure, ambition, and what happens when no one says stop.   Because sometimes the most dangerous thing in Hollywood isn’t a curse... it’s the belief that the shot is worth the cost.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

It started with a flooded house and a dolphin named Peter. It ended in LSD, obsession, and death.   In the 1960s, a young woman named Margaret Howe Lovatt moved into a house filled with water to teach a dolphin how to speak. Backed by NASA and fueled by fringe science, the experiment soon spiraled into something far more disturbing.   LSD got involved, and what followed was a bizarre and tragic chapter in the history of animal research… This tale is a haunting reminder that intelligence doesn’t equal consent.   This isn’t just weird science. It’s the moment science stopped asking if it even should.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

The sea is beautiful... until it isn’t.   In this episode, we plunge into the darkest waters of maritime history: the doomed Franklin Expedition, frozen in the Arctic and driven to madness and cannibalism, and the Batavia, where a shipwreck unraveled into a brutal cult of murder and terror on a barren island.   Along the way, we examine ghost ships drifting without crews, lighthouse keepers who vanished into thin air, sailors devoured by hunger after a whale attack, and an entire vessel found with its crew dead, faces twisted in fear.   These aren’t just shipwrecks. They’re reminders that the ocean keeps secrets... and it rarely gives anything back.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

She didn’t die because of the cold. She died because no one fixed the door.   In 2023, 63-year-old Nguyet Le was found dead inside the walk-in freezer of an Arby’s restaurant in Louisiana.   In this episode, we examine a horrifying case of corporate neglect, corner-cutting, and quiet cruelty... and how it led to one of the most preventable workplace deaths in recent memory.   Horror doesn’t always wear a mask.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Every October, the air grows colder, the nights stretch longer, and the boundary between the living and the dead begins to fade.   In this Halloween special, we'll trace the haunting origins of the holiday. From the fires of ancient Samhain and the prayers of All Hallows’ Eve, to poisoned candy panics, witch trials, and the worldwide traditions that still honor the dead today.   It’s a story of masks and memory, fear and fire, life and death... and the one night a year when both worlds meet.   Because Halloween isn’t about celebrating death. It’s about remembering it.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

In 1857, over 120 emigrants were slaughtered in the Utah desert under a white flag of peace. The killers? Mormon militia. The blame? Pinned on Native tribes.   In this episode, we uncover the dark and deliberate horror of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It was an ambush cloaked in religious fear and racial scapegoating. We explore how a brutal execution of men, women, and children was carefully staged to look like a Native attack… and how the truth was buried for decades under silence, scripture, and lies.   It wasn’t just a massacre of people. It was a massacre of truth.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Samurai dramas paint feudal Japan in gleaming armor and noble duels. But the truth was far darker.   In this episode, we descend into the Sengoku era, which was a century of civil war, betrayal, and blood. From Oda Nobunaga, the self-styled “Demon King of the Sixth Heaven” who burned monks alive on a mountain, to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the peasant who rose to power only to fall to ambition, to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the patient schemer who built an empire on the ashes of his rivals.   Along the way, we'll uncover massacres, betrayals, ninja shadows, and curses that linger to this day.   This is the true story of how Japan was unified... through fire, treachery, and rivers of blood.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

In 1955, Ruth Ellis shot her lover in broad daylight. Three months later, she became the last woman in Britain to be executed.   But behind the headlines was a woman already broken.   In this episode, we uncover the tragic life of Ruth Ellis (a nightclub hostess turned convicted murderer) whose story was shaped as much by violence and betrayal as by the bullet she fired. From glamour to scandal, from abuse to execution, Ruth wasn’t just a criminal. She was a victim of love, class, and a justice system with no room for mercy.   This isn’t just about a murder. It’s about how a country turned its back… and a woman paid the ultimate price.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Some crimes end in a trial. Others end in silence.   In this episode, we descend into the eerie world of the unexplained. A place where locked rooms hide secrets, bodies are found with coded notes, and the truth remains just out of reach.   From the brutal and baffling death of Artemus Ogletree in a Kansas City hotel… to two Brazilian men found on a hillside wearing lead masks and waiting for a signal that never came. These are stories that refuse to be solved.   Because sometimes, what haunts us most… isn’t what we don’t know. It’s that someone, somewhere, might.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

She was everywhere. But no one knew her name.   Audrey Munson was the most visible woman in America. She was immortalized in bronze, marble, and stone. Her face still crowns city halls, fountains, and public parks across the country.   But behind the statues was a woman who fell from fame into scandal… and then into silence.   In this episode, we trace the haunting rise and ruin of America’s first supermodel. From museum galleries and silent films to a psychiatric hospital where she lived in obscurity for over six decades.   This isn’t just a story about forgotten fame. It’s about what we do to the women we turn into symbols.   And what’s left when the sculptor walks away.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Faith can inspire. Faith can heal. But blind faith can kill.   In this chilling episode, Thomas Gloom descends into the world of religious cults. A place where devotion turns deadly and salvation comes with a price.   Whether it's the eerie calm of Heaven’s Gate, the poisoned jungle of Jonestown, or the ritual fires of the Order of the Solar Temple, this episode explores the dark places where belief becomes a weapon.   Some promises lead to paradise. These led to mass graves.   www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

They came cloaked in black. Beaked. Faceless. Feared. But behind the mask was something even stranger: an attempt at science.   Join me, as we examine the eerie history of the plague doctor costume—where it came from, why it looked the way it did, and how it became a walking symbol of death.   From waxed leather robes to beaks stuffed with flowers, this strange uniform was meant to protect... but ended up haunting the centuries.   And long after the plague passed, the mask remained... lingering in art, horror, and pop culture.   Because death may not wear a face… but sometimes, it wears a beak.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Some disasters are natural. Others are man-made. And then there are the ones we build ourselves—one arrogant decision at a time.   In this episode, we plunge into the catastrophic consequences of human hubris—disasters not born of nature, but of negligence.   We begin with the Johnstown Flood of 1889, where America’s wealthiest men turned a failing dam into a private playground—until it burst and killed over 2,200 people. Then, we travel to California’s St. Francis Dam, where one engineer’s overconfidence drowned entire towns overnight. Along the way, we uncover other tragedies: beer floods, collapsing dams, and the lives lost when ambition outweighs caution.   These weren’t accidents. They were warnings—ignored. And dreams—drowned.   www.MorbidHistory.com

A desert paradise. A shimmering sea. A dream built on a mistake.   Bombay Beach once lured Hollywood stars and hopeful tourists to its sunny shores. Water-skiing. Fishing. Cocktails beneath the palms. But beneath the glittering surface, the Salton Sea was dying.   As the water turned toxic, the fish began to rot. The birds followed. The dream decayed.   Today? The Riviera of the West is a graveyard of rusted trailers, junkyard art, and the stench of death that never left.   This is no vacation story. It’s the haunting collapse of a man-made mirage.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Fathers are meant to protect. But history remembers the ones who didn’t.   In this episode, we descend into the dark legacies of dads who became monsters—locking children in basements, stacking bodies like firewood, and turning holidays into horror scenes. From Fritzl’s underground prison to Simmons’s Christmas killing spree, we explore what happens when fatherhood curdles into control, cruelty, and calculated murder.   This isn’t about bad parenting. It’s about bloodlines soaked in blood.   www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

Bodies donated to science. Trusted hands. Unthinkable betrayal.   Cedric Lodge managed the Harvard Medical School morgue—until investigators uncovered a macabre black market of human remains. Skulls mailed in bubble wrap. Tattooed skin turned to leather. A network of buyers… hungry for the grotesque.   This isn’t just true crime. It’s body horror—ripped from reality.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

Food is supposed to nourish—but history tells a darker tale. In this episode, we bite into the morbid side of food production: poisoned candy, hallucinogenic bread, and deadly dinners. These are the meals that killed, the ingredients that maimed, and the appetites that cost lives. Bon appétit. Welcome to the second episode of the Morbid History podcast... Go ahead and grab a snack, but be careful, because you never know what it might contain. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

In the 1800s, surgery was pain. The only relief? A surgeon fast enough to beat the scream.   Robert Liston was that surgeon. Until one operation claimed the lives of three.   Was it legend… or a horrifying truth?   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR

History’s darkest visitors don’t always come with warning. In this debut episode, we step into the shadows to uncover stories of mysterious intruders—from the Phantom Barber of Pascagoula to the chilling Smiley Face Killer theory and beyond. These are the prowlers who slipped through locked doors, left behind questions, and were never seen again. Lock up, listen close, and prepare for the unease that lingers long after the footsteps fade. Welcome to the Morbid History podcast's maiden voyage...  You may want to leave a light on for this one. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com

Morbid History is a nonfiction podcast focused on the darker, stranger, and more mysterious aspects of history.  Join your host, Thomas Gloom, for a journey into the pages of humanity's near and distant past. Exhume weird, scary, or forgotten events--one intriguing tale at a time. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. For more, visit www.MorbidHistoryPod.com