A Ghost Story Without a Ghost: The Chelsea Parlour Murder of 1833
News of the Times | Episode 558 | 1833
In 1833, 70‑year‑old Catherine Elms lived quietly in a tiny Chelsea flat. She was well liked, friendly, and poor, with only a few modest possessions.

But one winter night she was found brutally slaughtered — her face split open by repeated blows with a sword and a hatchet, her rooms ransacked — and yet not a single thing of value was missing.

And the true puzzle:
Every door locked and bolted.
Shutters fastened.
The street‑door key lying untouched in the hallway.

It was as if the killer had melted through the very walls.

With no servants, no family at home, and her only lodger away, the killing defied sense. Who could have entered the sealed house? Was it a stranger with a secret grudge — or someone she trusted enough to let in before she locked up for the night?

This shocking “Chelsea Flat Murder” horrified England, baffled investigators, and has remained an enduring locked‑room mystery for nearly two centuries. Join us as we reopen the case.

In this episode's Further Particulars…
From blood‑spattered parlours to phantom brawls in the Welsh valleys — tonight’s palate cleanser comes from Glamorganshire, where the infamous Tondu Ghost isn’t content to rattle chains.

Lock the doors, pour another cup of tea, and meet the phantom pugilist of Tondu.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1831: The Bell Boy Murderer | EP468
https://youtu.be/5-_a9mpSopE
1551 - 1836: Favourite Georgian Era Crime Stories | EP470 https://youtu.be/B9Wd8CJmjcE

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

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The Woman in Black and the Murder of Augusta Dawes | True Crime 1894
News of the Times | Episode 557 | 1894
🕯️ A 19th-century mystery that begins with a murder... and spirals into urban legend.

In the winter of 1894, one of London’s most refined boroughs was struck by two chilling tales — one whispered behind lace curtains, the other screamed across the front pages.

First: a shocking early-morning discovery near Addison Road Bridge. A woman found dead in the street — throat slashed, blood pooling on the pavement, and a cherrywood walking stick left behind. Her name? Unknown.

Then, just days later, a new terror crept in:
A veiled woman in black, described as gliding silently through Kensington’s polished streets, began attacking respectable women in broad daylight, striking their faces with a concealed blade — and walking calmly away.

Newspapers dubbed it “The Kensington Outrages.”
The public whispered it might be Jack the Ripper in disguise.

Was it all just coincidence?
Or was something darker — and more deliberate — hiding beneath Kensington’s genteel façade?

🕯️ In tonight’s Further Particulars segment:
We visit a haunted crossroads in Buckinghamshire… where a headless woman in black is said to appear before passing farmers — and float, quite rudely, through their hedges.

Hosted by Robin Coles

1156 - 1895: Cases of Real Life Sweeney Todds | EP415
https://youtu.be/FTMWX_ttku0
1895: The Case of the Mansfield Tragedy Serial Killing | EP421
https://youtu.be/zl94LyAilBY
1896: A Spitalfields Tragedy - The Ellen Collins Mystery | EP427
https://youtu.be/DWcIfrCU92Q

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.

If yo

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

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The Nolagh House of Horror: Ireland’s 1898 Family Massacre
News of the Times | Episode 556 | 1898
On a bitter January night in 1898, neighbours in rural County Cavan made a grim discovery: a silent farmhouse, a smashed-in door, and a scene of almost unspeakable horror.

Inside, the bodies of Mary Reilly, her daughter Mary King, and two small children lay motionless on the straw-strewn floor. Their skulls had been crushed with a heavy spade. One child had been smothered beneath its mother's corpse. The other—barely a toddler—may have survived two more days, dying slowly from cold, hunger, and fear.

Even the rats had arrived before the authorities.

This shocking case rocked Victorian Ireland: a locked-door family annihilation, bitter domestic violence, and a trial that revealed more questions than answers. Follow the journey from the chilling crime scene through legal wranglings in Cavan and Belfast, ending with a verdict so unexpected that even the Lord Chief Justice was left stunned.

💥 "Transcended in horror everything comprised in my experience of crime." — Lord Chief Justice O’Brien

🕯 FURTHER PARTICULARS SEGMENT:
We leave the blood-stained fields of Cavan for an icy January in London, where top-hatted gentlemen and bonneted ladies gather—white roses pinned to lapels—to mourn a beheaded king. Over 250 years after Charles I lost his crown (and his head), the Jacobite faithful still marched, toasted, and whispered of royal restoration.

A bizarre blend of political nostalgia, public theatre, and candlelit reverence—this is one of history’s strangest cult followings.

☕ So grab a warm cup of tea, draw the curtains, and let the tales unfold—from one of the darkest farmhouse murders in Ireland’s history… to a wintertime ceremony for a king few ever liked.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely o

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

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The Scissors Murder Mystery: Unsolved Brixton Crime Shocks Edwardian London
News of the Times | Episode 555| 1900
In May 1900, the body of Mary Waknell was discovered in a quiet Brixton basement — savagely stabbed nearly forty times, many wounds inflicted with her own sewing scissors. No forced entry. No signs of struggle. And no one was ever convicted.

Was her killer a jealous husband? A man known only as “Jack”? Or one of many nighttime visitors society refused to acknowledge?

In this episode of News of the Times, we follow the cold, bloodstained trail of one of Edwardian London’s most brutal unsolved crimes. Using original newspaper reports and forensic details long buried in the archives, we uncover a tale of judgment, hypocrisy, and the quiet brutality faced by women who lived outside the lines of respectability.

If you're drawn to forgotten murders, historical injustice, and the atmospheric fog of Edwardian London — this case is not to be missed.

🔎 Featuring:
• A killer who vanished without a trace
• Clues hidden in postcards and pawn slips
• A society that blamed the victim
• And a room that tells a hauntingly silent story

☕ Pour a strong cup of tea and settle in — tonight’s tale is one for the darker corners of the parlour.

🥊 Further Particulars
Three hooligans. One well-dressed man with fast hands.
Let’s just say their Fleet Street mugging didn’t go to plan — especially when the would-be victim turned out to be a champion boxer with no patience for nonsense.
Teeth were lost.
Dignity was not recovered.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.

If you like your true crime thoughtful, atmospheric, and rooted in real records — welcome to the vault.

🎩 — RC & Team
#

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

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The 1913 Sun Inn Pub Murders | True Crime
News of the Times | Episode 553 | 1913
In the quiet village of Bedlington, April 1913, a dispute over beer stock and a £30 bond exploded into one of Edwardian England’s most shocking pub tragedies.

Publican John Vickers Amos, recently dismissed from the Sun Inn, refused to leave quietly. Within hours, two police officers lay dead, a landlady was mortally wounded, and a rifle-wielding manhunt had begun.

This meticulously sourced documentary draws from 1913 newspaper accounts to reveal:
How a routine stock-taking spiralled into fatal violence
The tense standoff, escape, and dramatic culvert capture
The sensational trial and execution of John Amos
The psychological defence that gripped the nation

A chilling portrait of workplace tension, rural policing, and Edwardian justice — all unfolding beneath the thatched roof of a country pub.

🎩 FURTHER PARTICULARS
What do you get when you combine an Edwardian goodnight kiss, a poorly guarded basement, and a startled father in upside-down trousers?
Let’s just say… The Fatal Kiss was not the romance headline anyone expected.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday
🎞️ Long-form historical crime compilations: Final Sunday of every month

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1919: The Mysterious Murder of Nellie Rault | EP465
https://youtu.be/kOX5mRlG_as
1919: The Case of the Marie Empress Mystery | EP467
https://youtu.be/Dv4Gfcsjwjw

❤️ Support Independent History
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:
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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.

If you like your true crime thoughtful, atmospheric, and rooted in real records — welcome to the vault.

🎩 — RC & Team
#TrueCrime #HistoricalCrime #Edwar

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

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Scottish Mystery: The Bound Woman and the Pit That Hid the Truth | True Crime 1909
News of the Times | Episode 552 | 1909
It’s 1909 in Musselburgh, Scotland.
A woman’s body—bound, sacked, and terribly decomposed—is found deep in an abandoned coal pit. Nearby: a torn necktie, broken combs, scattered shoes, and rumours of a second attack.

Who was she? How did she vanish unseen? And what links a missing sailor, a jealous miner, and a fragment of newspaper dated June 11th?

This new News of the Times true-crime documentary pieces together Georgina “Jeannie” Burnett’s final hours from contemporary newspaper reports. From a sailor’s ruined career to a miner’s suspicious quarrel, every clue leads closer to—but never quite solves—the Musselburgh Mystery.

🕯️ Further Particulars — an Edwardian Party Gone Rogue
Stay to the very end for a palate-cleansing detour: when a hundred fashionably dressed hooligans crashed a quiet London couple’s home for a midnight dance party, the hosts simply put on their silk dressing gowns, wished everyone a pleasant evening, and went to bed.

Society rebellion met its match in frosty good manners — proof that sometimes the sharpest weapon is an impeccably raised eyebrow.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday
🎞️ Long-form historical crime compilations: Final Sunday of every month

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1908: SYC The luard case mystery - syc kindle page 93 | EP366
https://youtu.be/nofXENXN2Z4
1905: SYC: Deadly Devereaux - The Trunk Murderer | EP394
https://youtu.be/t9MUvoDMl4w
1903: Marston Moor Murders | EP403
https://youtu.be/GmxBwDEUz1M
1896 & 1903: The Infamous Starr Murders | EP406
https://youtu.be/LqmZzLivZUU

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true c

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

The Actress Who Tried to Kill Her Mother | True Crime 1909
News of the Times | Episode 551| 1909
In this astonishing Edwardian crime, a young woman named Winifred Kirk lured her own mother to a secluded country road — and attempted to end her life with a rope and a shoemaker’s knife.

What began as a secret letter turned into a national scandal. Was this premeditated matricide... or a moment of madness, born of family disgrace, scandal, and emotional collapse?

This gripping episode includes:
Letters of alarming intent ✉️
A skipping rope turned murder weapon 🪢
A shoemaker’s knife in a corset (naturally) 🔪
A courtroom monologue worthy of amateur dramatics 🎭
And a family reputation unravelling at high speed.

Based entirely on contemporary newspaper reports, this is a tale of Edwardian shame, melodrama, and the kind of family outing that ends with hospitalisation, tears, and penal servitude.

And in our Further Particulars segment, a brief break from attempted matricide… to celebrate America’s proudest tradition: surviving the Fourth of July with all major limbs attached.

In 1912, only twenty people died — a stunning victory for restraint, rooftops, and remaining fingers.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1903: Who Killed Mr Swann? | EP450
https://youtu.be/6WI4PhQrE6o
1905: Case of The One-Armed Bigamist Murderer | EP455
https://youtu.be/wIFh9HOEMdk
1905 & 1906: The Mysterious Manchester Murders | EP462
https://youtu.be/iLrChy8s5SE
1902: The Case of the Clonbrok Murder | EP477
https://youtu.be/M908ewkwXy4
1900: The Sinister Mr Salmon | EP484
https://youtu.be/dbLJw0a7v4A

❤️ Support Independent History
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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical rese

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

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Scotland Yard Casebook: Harold Jones – The Boy Killer Who Fooled a Town
News of the Times | Episode 550 |1920

📺 SPECIAL EXTENDED EPISODE — TWISTS, TRAGEDY & A TOWN DECEIVED
In this gripping extra-long episode of News of the Times, we explore one of Britain’s most chilling true crime cases: the 1921 murders committed by 15-year-old Harold Jones, a boy so charming he was celebrated as a hero — after his first acquittal.

But just two weeks later, another child vanished.

🕯️ Discover how a small Welsh town was led astray by appearances… and how Scotland Yard unraveled the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight.

📌 Includes:
✔️ The shocking trial that ended in applause
✔️ A second murder — closer to home than anyone dared imagine
✔️ Harold Jones’s own handwritten confession
✔️ A look at how modern psychology views this disturbing case

💡 If you enjoy true crime with deep research, historical flair, and just a hint of dark humour, this is the one to watch.

👇 Don't miss this special entry in our Scotland Yard Casebook series.

🕯️ Further Particulars: The Curious Case of William Willoughby, Pewter Pirate of Holborn
In today’s Further Particulars, we bring you a man with strong views on trousers, public transport, and the correct way to be reintroduced into society after a spell in Wormwood Scrubs.

Meet William Willoughby, a 72-year-old pewter pot thief with a theatrical streak, a battered coat, and a mission to expose the indignities of post-prison fashion.

Within two days of his release, Willoughby was back in court — not just for theft, but for delivering what may be the most accidentally brilliant one-man show in Clerkenwell Sessions history.

👤 Hosted by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

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📖 New! *Slightly Unreliable Memoirs* (Vol 1 & 2)
Humorous 24-page PDF curiosities in the tradition of Wodehouse and Saki — available here:
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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrato

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

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