Lizzie Halliday was known in the late nineteenth century as “the worst woman on earth” and ended up being the first woman EVER to be sentenced to die in the electric chair.

References

Brooklyn Citizen. 1893. "Mrs. Halliday guilty." Brooklyn Citizen, September 10: 4.

Buffalo Conmmercial. 1894. "Murderess Lizzie Hallidfay sentenced this morning." Buffalo Commercial, June 22: 1.

Buffalo Courier. 1891. "An interesting Newburgh pair." Buffalo Couirier, June 24: 1.

—. 1893. "Her first connected story anent the recent tragedy." Buffalo Courier, October 21: 2.

Buffalo Evening News. 1895. "Crazy murderess, assisted by another maniac, tries to kill an attendant at Matteawan." Buffalo Evening News, September 2: 6.

—. 1894. "Lizzie Halliday sentenced to die by electricty." Buffalo Evening News, June 22: 7.

Buffalo Sunday Morning News. 1894. "Lizzie's crazy antics." Buffalo Sunday Morning News, June 24: 1.

Evening World . 1894. "A weird murderess." Evening World, June 20: 1.

Evening World. 1894. "Lizzie Halliday's trial." Evening World, June 18: 1.

Levine, David. 2020. Lizzie Brown Halliday: The Worst Woman On Earth. August 25. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://hvmag.com/life-style/lizzie-brown-halliday-serial-killer/.

New York Times. 1918. "Lizzie Halliday dead." New York Times, Junbe 29: 20.

—. 1893. "Lizzie Halliday makes statement." New York Times, October 21: 9.

—. 1894. "Lizzie Halliday soon to be tried." New York Times, June 10: 8.

—. 1906. "Mrs. Halliday, insane, stabs nurse 200 times." New York Times, September 28: 5.

Owen, Kevin. 2019. illing Time in the Catskills: The twisted tale of the Catskill Ripper Elizabeth "Lizzie" McNally Halliday. Unknown: Independent.

Sun and Erie County Independent. 1893. "A triple tragedy; awful crimes charged against Mrs. Halliday." Sun and Erie Times, September 15: 2.

The World. 1893. "Lizzie Halliday in Philadelphia." The World, November 8: 2.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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On the afternoon of March 26, 1997, the San Diego County Sherrif’s Department received an anonymous call through 911 reporting a mass suicide at an address in Rancho Santa Fe, California. A single sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the address and knocked on the front door, but got no response. Finding a side door to the home unlocked, the deputy entered the house and was horrified to discover nearly forty bodies of adults, all of whom appeared to have taken their own lives in what appeared to be some kind of ritual.

Not since the terrible mass deaths at Jonestown decades earlier had Americans seen such a bizarre and ultimately tragic occurrence and few were able to understand how such a thing could have happened in the modern age. What could have caused so many people to willingly give up their lives, and who was he enigmatic man who’d convinced them to do it?

Ayers, B. Drummon. 1997. "Families learning of 39 cultists who died willingly." New York Times, March 29.

CNN. 1997. Applewhite sought cure for his homosexual urges. March 29. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/US/9703/29/applewhite/.

Lamotte, Greg. 1997. Heaven's Gate 911 call eerily calm. April 18. Accessed January 5, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/US/9704/18/cult.911/index.html.

Locke, Michelle. 1997. "Comet cult's stairway led to downfall." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), March 31: 1.

Miller, Craig. 1997. "Web page business supported sect's life." North Country Times (Oceanside, CA), March 28: 1.

Perry, Tony. 1997. "Cult left no survivors, police say." Los Angeles Times, April 1: 3.

Perry, Tony, Michael Granberry, and Anne-Marie O'Connor. 1997. "39 dead in apparent suicide." Los Angeles Times, March 27: 1.

Purdum, Todd. 1997. "Videotapes left by 39 who died described cult's suicide goal." New York Times, March 28.

Steinberg, Jacques. 1997. "From religious childhood to reins of a U.F.O. cult." New York Times, March 29.

Weinraub, Claire, Christina Ng, Acacia Nunes, and Haley Yamada. 2022. Surviving member of Heaven's Gate cult reflects on mass suicide 25 years ago: 'It meant everything'. March 14. Accessed January 7, 2026. https://abc7.com/post/cult-next-door-diane-sawyer-special-heavens-gate-2020/11642749/.

Wilkens, John. 2017. "Cilt sought to 'exit' via spaceship." Los Angeles Times, March 20: B2.

Zeller, Benjamin. 2014. Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion. New York, NY: New York University Press.

—. 2014. "Anatomy of a mass suicide: The dark, twsited story behind a UFO death cult." Salon, November 15.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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In the early hours of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese returned home from work and parked her car in a lot near her Queens apartment, completely unaware that someone was following her. As she approached the door to her apartment building, Kitty’s stalker ran up behind her and stabbed her in the back twice before being scared off by a neighbor who yelled from his window. Wounded, Kitty managed to get to the back of the building, but her attacker soon returned and brutally assaulted her. By the time an ambulance arrived an hour later, it was too late; Kitty Genovese died before she reached the hospital.

Kitty’s murder and the arrest of her killer, Winston Moseley, were quickly overshadowed by what were believed to be the facts of the attack, primarily the widely held belief that at least thirty-eight neighbors had seen the assault or heard Kitty’s cries for help and did nothing. Despite there having been no evidence to support that belief, the narrative quickly became about urban apathy, with the death of a Queens bartender merely a footnote.

The murder of Kitty Genovese is one of the most notorious violent crimes in modern American history—not because of the details or circumstances of the crime, but because of the legend and mythology that has built up around it.

Cook, Kevin. 2014. Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Gallo, Marcia M. 2014. "The Parable of Kitty Genovese, the New York Times, and the Erasure of Lesbianism." Journal of the Hisotry of Sexuality 273.

Gansberg, Martin. 1964. "37 who saw murder didn't call the police." New York Times, March 27: 1.

New York Times. 1964. "Queens man seized in death of 2 women." New York Times, March 20: 21.

Pearlman, Jeff. 2004. "'64 murder lives in heart of woman's 'friend'." Chicago Tribune, March 12: 4.

Peltz, Jennifer. 2015. Kitty Genovese Killer Denied Parole in Notorious 1964 Case . November 17. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/kitty-genovese-killer-denied-parole-notorious-1964-stabbing-new-york-city/1274332/.

Roberts, Sam. 2020. "Sophia Farrar dies at 92; belied indifference to Kitty Genovese." New York Times, September 10.

Rosenthal, Abe. 1964. "Apathy is puzzle in queens killing." New York Times, March 28: 21. —. 1964. "Study of the Sickness called apathy." New York Times, May 3: 24.

Simon, Scott. 2016. The Witness' Tells A Different Story About The Kitty Genovese Murder.

May 28. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2016/05/28/479824705/-the-witness-tells-a-different-story-about-the-kitty-genovese-murder.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.