True Crime Campfire

By: True Crime Campfire
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  • Summary

  • Join hosts Katie and Whitney for a different kind of true crime podcast. You can start with season 1, The Puppet Master and the Prince of Darkness, a deep dive into the most bizarre murder case you've never heard of. Or start with season 2, which covers a different stranger-than-fiction story each week. This bingeworthy show combines meticulous research with a refreshing mix of comic relief and seamless storytelling. There's plenty of room around the campfire--come help us roast murderers and marshmallows!

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
    Copyright True Crime Campfire
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Social Sciences True Crime World
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Episodes
  • Lust, Lies & Audiotape: Two Failed Murders for Hire

    Lust, Lies & Audiotape: Two Failed Murders for Hire
    Jan 10 2025
    Most people love getting a peek behind a fellow human’s carefully managed facade. We’re delighted when we see the local magistrate gettin’ wrecked at a dive bar two towns over. We catch a glimpse of our married coworker making out with a guy who’s not her husband behind the building, and we can’t wait to tell somebody. We love a hot mic moment, when a news anchor or politician drops the mask for a second and acts like the flawed human they are. I think that’s one of the reasons we love hit-man stings on this show. A recording of somebody offering money in exchange for murder—it's the most authentic peek behind the curtain you could possibly get. A person making an inexplicable, evil choice, dropping the face they normally show to the world to show the darkness underneath. This week we have two cases for you: One where a career fraudster and general snake in human form stays exactly true to his character, and one where a respected member of the community does something light-years out of hers.

    Sources:
    Oxygen's "Murder For Hire," episodes "Revenge! Revenge!" and "Wrong Side of the Law"
    CNBC's "American Greed," episode "A Con Man's Deadly Revenge"
    https://www.oxygen.com/murder-for-hire/crime-time/long-island-inmate-joseph-romano-plot-murder-judge-prosecutor-bianco-gatz
    https://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/27/how-joseph-romano-went-from-million-dollar-coin-fraudster-to-hiring-a-hit-man.html
    Court papers: https://law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/1987/86sc254-0.html
    New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/nyregion/inmate-gets-life-in-prison-for-plotting-to-behead-a-judge-and-a-prosecutor.html

    Follow us, campers!
    Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
    https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/
    Facebook: True Crime Campfire
    Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
    Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
    Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
    MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
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    49 mins
  • Away Team: The Story of Heaven's Gate

    Away Team: The Story of Heaven's Gate
    Jan 3 2025
    I have vivid memories of the night of March 22, 1997. Part of it has to do with, y’know, young dumb love—but most of it has to do with the Hale-Bopp Comet, also known as the Great Comet, which was brilliantly visible from my hometown that night. I had a huge crush on this guy, and he invited me to watch the comet with him. We climbed up on the rooftop of this neighborhood bar with a bottle of screw-top wine, and we watched the sky—and suddenly, there it was, a bright silvery ball with a long glowing tail. Magic. I’ll never forget it—wrote some bad poetry about it later that night. And then a couple mornings later, I woke up to the strangest news story of my life. A group calling themselves Heaven’s Gate had taken their own lives en masse out in California—and they’d left behind a video explaining why. They were catching a ride on the comet, with the full certainty that it would take them to paradise. They were leaving their human bodies behind, chasing the pure perfection of enlightenment. These were smart, educated people with families who loved them. What led them to this? Join us for the story of one of the deadliest cults in American history: Heaven's Gate.

    Sources:
    Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion, Benjamin Zeller https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124716/
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html
    Cult Education Institute
    https://www.heavensgate.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080122002236/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986136-1,00.html
    Wikipedia "Comet Hale-Bopp" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp

    Follow us, campers!
    Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
    https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/
    Facebook: True Crime Campfire
    Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
    Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
    Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
    MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
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    52 mins
  • Bad Fortune: Two Tales of Psychic Scammers

    Bad Fortune: Two Tales of Psychic Scammers
    Dec 20 2024
    As Abe Lincoln once said—or possibly some guy named Peter Drucker, depends on who you ask—the best way to predict the future is to create it. But for a lot of us humans, that’s a little too loosey-goosey. We’re not big fans of the unknown, and we tend to seek out people who claim they can tell us what to expect from the future. Americans, for example, spend billions a year on psychics. A lot of these are legitimate businesspeople who genuinely want to provide counseling and comfort for their clients. But there’s also a bustling trade in psychic fraud—run by people who have no qualms about taking advantage of you at your most vulnerable and desperate. Today we’re gonna tell you about two of those cases. Case 1: The Mysterious Death of Seth Tobias. Case 2: Psychic Scammer Gina Marks

    Sources:
    New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/business/04tobias.html
    ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4279324&page=1
    New York Magazine: https://nymag.com/news/features/43914/
    The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/article/hunt-for-tiger-the-go-go-boy-after-seth-tobiass-death-5n923qml8pf
    The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/12/bob-nygaard-private-investigator-psychic-fraud
    NBC: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/maryland-psychic-sentenced-to-6-years-for-scamming-clients/155294/
    TV show "Pink Collar Crime," episode "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming"

    Follow us, campers!
    Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
    https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/
    Facebook: True Crime Campfire
    Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
    Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
    Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
    MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
    Show More Show Less
    44 mins

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