The Witch of New York

The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice

By: Alex Hortis

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.

On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home—and then covered up the crime with hellfire.

When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin’s sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new “penny press” explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she’s a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials—in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh—for the “Christmas murders.”

After Polly’s legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated not only her guilt, but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel was inspired by her trials.

The Witch of New York is the first narrative history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America’s formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from Old New York—and uses the Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice of today.

©2024 Alex Hortis (P)2024 Spotify Audiobooks

Entertaining and scary but not for the reason you think

As a native Staten Islander I grew up with stories of “Polly” Bodine. (As Islanders say it, it rhymes with keen and not wine as the narrator says). I used to frequent the Perkins diner that stood on the ground of the burned house of the murdered sister-in-law and infant niece. That said I knew maybe a slivers of the story and found this richly told, well- researched and captivating. I listened to it in less than a week. But the narration was a little stumbling block. I thought it was Siri at first or an AI simulation. But I got used to it. What was frightening wasn’t the story but the way the “entertainment“ media started. This is a very relevant discussion and one that I have always wondered about. Well done and highly recommended.

Boring

Just a boring book. Did not enjoy. Nothing really exciting or interesting. Could of been how the individual was reading the book.