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Join author Denise Parkinson for an intimate look at a Depression-era tragedy.

The once-thriving houseboat communities along Arkansas' White River are long gone, and few remember the sensational murder story that set local darling Helen Spence on a tragic path. In 1931, Spence shocked Arkansas when she avenged her father's murder in a DeWitt courtroom. The state soon discovered that no prison could hold her. For the first time, prison records are unveiled to provide an essential portrait. The legend of Helen Spence refuses to be forgotten--despite her unmarked grave.

Brooklyn. The most populous borough in New York City. Birthplace of the Dodgers, Sweet'n Low, and Season 21 of "The Real World.'? With more than 400 years under its belt, the borough is filled with a history of both sweet and savory moments.

It's hard to imagine Brooklyn as anything other than a concrete jungle. Who would guess that that first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought here? Or that the world's oldest subway is hidden beneath the streets of Boerum Hill? Or how an airplane fell from the sky and landed in the middle of the street in Park Slope? Hundreds of people pass by the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park everyday. Virtually no one stops to read the plaque. If they did, they would learn that it is actually a grave, holding up to 15,000 bodies.

Author Allison Huntington Chase, Brooklyn's own Madame Morbid, takes readers on a journey beyond the brownstones, to discover the hidden, macabre and bizarre throughout Brooklyn history.

Kentucky is no stranger to strange occurrences. From weird encounters with the Grim Reaper to local graveyard dogs, the Bluegrass State has its share of odd stories. Learn about local ghosts who've haunted areas for years. Encounter body snatchers and some very odd modes of death. Go on the hunt for Daniel Boone's bones and witness the marvelous twisting tombstone. Witness the people who uncannily predicted their own death. Author Keven McQueen details these creepy stories and more.

Gruesome Tales From the Gem City of the Great Lakes

From the French and Indian War to Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie, the city of Erie has a prideful place in the American story, but there also exists a seedy history of crime and murder.

In 1905 Detective James "Jimmie" Higgins was mysteriously killed at Central High School and the drawn-out manhunt for his murderer occupied headlines for months. On a cold January night in 1911, a massive explosion rocked the Erie waterfront when criminals bombed the Pennsylvania Railroad Coal Trestle, leaving it a smoldering mass of steel and debris. The unsolved murder of Manley W. Keene inspired a local newspaper to bring in the "Female Sherlock Holmes," Mary Holland, who defied gender expectations and reshaped detective work in Erie for generations.

Author Justin Dombrowski uncovers dark stories from Erie's illicit past.

Delve into the Dastardly Deeds of the Valley

The Miami Valley of Ohio has a rich but gruesome and bloody history. In Dayton, Christine Kett murdered her daughter and confessed seventeen years later on her deathbed. William Fogwell of Beavercreek clung to life long enough to name his killer before he died. Joshua Monroe, a Yellow Springs man, killed his lover--also his sister in law--in a jealous rage. Reputed serial killer Oliver Crook Haugh was accused of murdering multiple women over several years, but he was ultimately convicted of killing "only'? his family.

Author and founder of the Dayton Unknown history blog Sara Kaushal uncovers the violent and horrific crimes of the past.

Lake Erie is known for its beauty and tranquility, but a dark, deadly undercurrent lurks beneath its surface.

Bordering four states and two countries, the inland ocean offers the perfect getaway for criminals of all kinds. The bandits who held up the Ashtabula National Marine Bank as well as Ontario's most elusive conman used the lake to avoid capture. Pirate Joseph Kerwin relied on his knowledge of the shipping industry to evade the law. Narene Mozee's murderer quietly slipped away after completing his heinous deed on a luxury cruise ship, and when a lighthouse keeper found a corpse floating in the shallows near his post, all signs pointed to the killer fleeing by boat.

Local author Wendy Koile wades into the depths of this great, but deadly lake.

Black's ranching and dairy empire, founded on a single Mexican land grant, ultimately encompassed 20,000 Marin County acres. Black, his wife, and daughter enjoyed the privileges of the landed gentry until January 1864 when his cherished wife died in their son-in-law's dental chair. An obsessive resentment, excesses of whisky, and a scheming second wife consumed Black's bereavement.

Augustina learned after her father's death that she had been written out of his will. For four years and across two counties, she fought her stepmother for a fair portion of her father's $15,000,000 estate. After multiple notorious trials, Augustina gained a partial victory¬--but would she receive the land and gold the jury awarded her?

Explore the investigative intricacies and courtroom drama of crimes of passion, greed, and revenge in Stark County, Ohio.

Rendered in painstaking detail, accounts of high-profile killings and courtroom intrigue filled the pages of Stark County's early newspapers. The triple hanging of three teenage boys in 1880 seized the attention of the entire community. When George Saxton, notorious womanizer and President McKinley's brother-in-law, was shot dead on the front lawn of his widowed lover in 1898, the whole nation looked on. For the brutal slaying of his wife, James Cornelius became the first local prison inmate executed in the electric chair in 1906.

Using contemporary local newspaper accounts, Kim Kenney, author of Canton's Pioneers in Flight and coauthor of Stark County Food tells the story of eight Stark County murders, unfolding the grisly details while honoring the lives cut short by violence.

Despite its early law enforcement presence, Prescott's place in the violent history of Yavapai County is written in blood. .

The jealousy, greed and pure meanness of some of its citizens produced shocking trails of destruction and death. The Keystone Saloon couldn't keep a proprietor--a series of owners was found dead with gunshot wounds. A driver-for-hire was brutally assaulted and his car stolen in Prescott's first homicidal carjacking. Two nurses conspired to poison a rich patient in their care. From the shootout that began Virgil Earp's career to knifings and dynamite attacks, Prescott history blogger Drew Desmond and Whiskey Row historian and author Bradley G. Courtney tell rarely heard stories that once rocked the town.

With an eye for bizarre, macabre detail, Keven McQueen tracks down seventeen true crimes and unsolved mysteries in this collection of historic Hoosier homicides.

This grim collection of tales includes unimaginable incidents like the Indianapolis businessman whose car contained suspicious hams and the man who handed his new bride a drink of carbolic acid. It also reveals the tragedy of Gary's beautiful Arlene Draves, killed by her football player boyfriend, as well as a surprisingly comic courtroom revelation by Hammond's Hazel McNally that cleared her of all charges.

Author Keven McQueen is an instructor in the Department of English at Eastern Kentucky University. He is the author of twelve books on biography, history, folklore, ghost lore, natural disasters and historical true crime.

Uncover the details of the most murderous times in Birmingham Alabama's history.

A reign of terror swept the streets of Birmingham in the 1920s. Criminals armed with small axes attacked immigrant merchants and interracial couples, leaving dozens dead or injured over the course of four years. Desperate for answers, police accepted clues from a Ouija board, while citizens clamored for gun permits for protection. The city's Italian immigrants formed their own association as protection against the Black Hand, an organized band of brutal criminals. Eventually, the police turned to a dangerous and untested truth serum to elicit confessions. Four black men and a teenage girl were charged and tried, while copycat killers emerged from the woodwork. Journalist Jeremy Gray tackles one of the most curious and violent cases in Magic City history.

Enduring mysteries from the Hoosier State

Crime and tragedy have all too often disturbed the peace and stained the memory of Indiana's bucolic countryside. The small town of Dupont was thrust into the nation's spotlight in 1947 after a series of suspicious deaths were blamed on a well-known local housekeeper--suspected serial killer Lottie "Tot'? Lockman. On a fall day in 1976, a Benton County farmer found an unusual package in his cornfield--a corpse. Dubbed "The Box Lady of Benton County,'? her identity remains a mystery. On September 13, 1989, Joseph Bova was killed outside of his Merrillville home when a pipe bomb rigged to his truck's ignition exploded. With no witnesses, suspects, or motive, his case remains unsolved.

Author Autumn Bones explores some of Indiana's least-known unsolved cases.

On February 5th, 1946, the Ferguson brothers were concluding a night out celebrating Charles Ferguson's reenlistment in the Army...

Charles, wearing his military uniform, walked with his brothers Alphonso, Joseph, and Richard towards the Freeport Bus Terminal to go home. A provisional Freeport police officer named Joseph Romeika stopped the brothers over a disorderly conduct complaint. Words were exchanged, and Officer Romeika killed Charles, Alphonso and shot Joseph within minutes of the initial stop. Following the unarmed shooting, Romeikia was acquitted despite changing stories of eyewitnesses.

Discover how the shooting became a catalyst for civil rights efforts and immortalized in a Woody Guthrie protest song.

Spellbinding cases of mayhem from the Great Lake State

Blanketed by forests, dotted by lakes, crisscrossed by rivers and surrounded by Great Lakes, Michigan is a good place to hide secrets, bury bodies and stash evidence. Dig deep enough, and you will unearth something sinister. Is the suicide note of a prominent Detroit physician also a confession to murder? Were inmates unlawfully released from Jackson State Penitentiary to carry out a contract killing on a politician before he could turn State's evidence? Who silenced a fiery radio personality known as "the voice of the people'?? Did a notorious serial killer stalk women in Lansing during the 1970s?

Join true crime author Tobin T. Buhk as he excavates some of the most vexing unsolved crimes in Michigan history.

Four decades after Jeannette DePalma's tragic death, authors Jesse P. Pollack and Mark Moran present the definitive account of the shocking Springfield township cold case.

As Springfield residents decorated for Halloween in September 1972, the crime rate in the quiet, affluent township was at its lowest in years. That mood was shattered when the body of sixteen-year-old Jeannette DePalma was discovered in the local woods, allegedly surrounded by strange objects. Some feared witchcraft was to blame, while others believed a serial killer was on the loose. Rumors of a police cover up ran rampant, and the case went unsolved - along with the murders of several other young women.