In this episode of The Dark History Podcast, we examine the life and crimes of Ilse Koch — the woman whose name became synonymous with cruelty inside Buchenwald concentration camp. You’ll hear a first-person composite account based on survivor testimony, followed by a detailed investigation into Koch’s early life, her rise within the Nazi regime, and the brutality she inflicted on prisoners.

We look closely at the allegations that made her infamous: the selection of tattooed prisoners, the killings connected to the pathology block, and the accusations surrounding objects said to be made from human skin. We also break down the legal battles that followed the war, including her convictions, sentence reduction, re-arrest, and her final years in prison.

This episode avoids sensationalism. Instead, it places Koch within the wider structure of Nazi authority and explores how ordinary people can become active participants in atrocity. It is a difficult story, but understanding it is essential when studying the mechanics of genocide and the consequences of unchecked power.

If you find this episode valuable, consider leaving a review or sharing the show. Links to our socials, Patreon, and merch are included below.

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This Halloween, The Dark History Podcast takes you inside one of the most terrifying true hauntings in British history — the Black Monk of Pontefract. In the 1960s, the Pritchard family’s ordinary council house at 30 East Drive became the site of violent paranormal attacks that defied explanation. Furniture moved on its own. Objects flew across rooms. And a dark, hooded figure watched silently from the shadows.

Was the infamous Pontefract poltergeist the restless spirit of a medieval monk, condemned and buried beneath the estate? Or something far darker — a demonic force feeding on fear?

Join Rob for this chilling Halloween special as we uncover the history, the eyewitness accounts, and the terrifying legacy of 30 East Drive — the house that still draws ghost hunters and sceptics alike.

If you enjoy real hauntings, historical mysteries, and the darker side of British folklore, this is one episode you won’t want to miss.

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What happens when a person simply ceases to exist? When one moment they are here—walking to work, stepping onto a train, or marching into history—and the next, they’re gone? No struggle, no evidence, just a void where a life should be.

In this episode of The Dark History Podcast, Rob takes you into the chilling world of unexplained disappearances—real stories where the trail ends in silence and speculation fills the gap. From modern America to Victorian England, from the dawn of cinema to the chaos of revolution, these cases remind us how fragile our presence in the world really is.

You’ll hear about Cindy Anderson, a nineteen-year-old secretary who vanished in broad daylight from a locked law office, leaving behind an open novel that eerily mirrored her fate. Then, a leap back to 1873, where a drunken wager ended with a man literally vanishing mid-run on a Warwickshire road. We’ll follow Louis Le Prince—the forgotten father of cinema—who boarded a train in France and never arrived, erasing not only himself but his claim to history. And finally, we’ll trace the footsteps of Ambrose Bierce, the legendary American writer who walked into the Mexican Revolution and disappeared into myth.

Each story is an open wound in history—unsolved, unsettling, and impossible to forget. Were these people victims of crime, of circumstance, or of something stranger still? Rob examines the evidence, the folklore, and the eerie coincidences that keep these disappearances alive more than a century later.

Because sometimes, it’s not the ghosts of the dead that haunt us… it’s the silence of the missing.

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