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.
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Nov 13, 2026 · 38:48
I guarantee you that the pair of doofuses in this week’s story have an encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock, and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. Classic rock is both…
Nov 6, 2026 · 45:54
Success can be a double-edged sword, particularly if it puts you in the public eye. There are a lot of strange people in the world, and the most innocuous comments or behaviors…
Oct 30, 2026 · 1:12:07
Murder always makes an imprint in the lives of the people around it. But when a murder goes unsolved—or multiple murders—the imprint is even darker. It can linger through years,…
Oct 23, 2026 · 41:09
Most of us have ordinary lives, with all its joys and heartbreaks, and that’s more than enough…but not for everyone. There will always be some people who want a brighter…
Oct 16, 2026 · 40:27
There are few crueler ways to harm someone than through poison. It turns your own body against you, making you a prisoner in a failing shell. Being poisoned can be terrifying,…
Oct 9, 2026 · 54:00
In last week’s episode, we met John Smith, a lying, manipulative weirdo who almost certainly had killed his missing second wife, Fran. Towards the end of that episode, we learned…
Oct 2, 2026 · 39:02
If there’s one old folktale that finds a frequent echo in true crime stories, it has to be ‘Bluebeard,’ about a man who marries and then murders a series of wives. It’s a pattern…
Sep 25, 2026 · 37:44
All of us have some tensions and frustrations with our families, and that’s fine. It’s just normal human nature. But for some people, these rough edges to everyday family…
Sep 18, 2026 · 46:50
Do you think people will still be talking about Scott Peterson or Chris Watts in a hundred years? How about five-hundred? Probably not, right? But there are some acts of cruelty…
Sep 4, 2026 · 42:25
Death is not always the end. We’re not stepping into any kind of spiritual territory here, though, we’re talking about the very earthly fact that just because someone appears to…
Aug 31, 2026 · 6:55
Reddit is an endless archive of humanity’s most disturbing, bizarre, and deeply human stories. If you love going down internet rabbit holes, you are going to love CRIMES OF…
Aug 28, 2026 · 55:11
Last week, we introduced you to Krystyna Skarbek, a daring resistance agent who smuggled valuable intelligence and thousands of refugees out of Nazi-occupied Poland. When we left…
Aug 21, 2026 · 49:29
James Belushi once wrote, “Heroes aren’t born, they’re cornered.” It’s often extraordinary, and sometimes horrifying, circumstance that compels a person into actions they’d never…
Aug 14, 2026 · 47:53
You can’t judge a book by its cover. There’s no shortage of gold-hearted biker dudes and wicked ministers—you can’t really know what someone’s like inside right away. Like that…
Aug 7, 2026 · 45:43
In Irish and other European folklore, a changeling is a fae child that is swapped with a human baby to be raised by humans. Sometimes it’s because the fae needed human milk to…
Jul 31, 2026 · 56:04
In August of 2012, the family of an Irish woman named Elaine O’Hara reported her missing. Investigators located her car near the seashore, but found no sign of Elaine herself.…
Jul 24, 2026 · 1:00:12
In Part One of this story last week, we followed the rise to riches of hotel owner Ben Novack Sr. and his glamorous model wife Bernice, and the spoiled yet lonely life of their…
Jul 17, 2026 · 45:39
It has sometimes been said that great wealth is a curse—usually by people who have never had to go hungry, but there is something to it. The idea of the miserable millionaire…
Jul 10, 2026 · 52:37
There are some crimes and schemes that must be just about as old as humanity itself. I’m sure handsome scammers have been wooing the daughters of wealthy families for about as…
Jul 3, 2026 · 46:14
In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells the story of a handsome young man who makes a deal with the Devil—his soul, in exchange for eternal youth and beauty.…
Jun 26, 2026 · 45:00
It’s almost impossible to know someone perfectly. Everyone has their private thoughts and hidden moments from their past, and this is usually no problem at all, it’s all just…
Jun 19, 2026 · 1:03:09
When we left you at the end of part 1, Wayne Nance had begun his career as a serial killer with the murder of Donna Pounds. As much as he tried to blend into normal…
Jun 12, 2026 · 40:59
In the 1970s in Missoula, Montana, there was a brief epidemic of unsolved violent murders that shocked the small city down to its roots. A dark rumor spread quickly—the deaths…
Jun 5, 2026 · 52:13
Our homes are supposed to be where we’re the safest. It’s where we’re our most vulnerable. Last week, we told you about someone who would use that vulnerability to his advantage.…
May 29, 2026 · 49:17
In the military, a “gray man” refers to a service member who neither outperforms or underperforms his or her comrades. Someone who seamlessly fits into the group and gets the job…
May 22, 2026 · 35:29
I don’t know about you, campers, but I like to have emergency plans for any eventuality. For example, what if I find myself in the center of a maze with only my wits to get out?…
May 15, 2026 · 49:38
People can be pretty strange. And not just people—as we’ll see in one story of this week’s episode, you can add all our extended family of primates to that. If you have a big…
May 11, 2026 · 27:40
Today we’re sharing something a little different from our friends at ABC News and 20/20. It’s the first episode of a brand new original true crime series called "Blood and…
May 8, 2026 · 51:45
I’m sure most of you have heard some variant of the phrase, “nobody wants to see how the sausage gets made,” which refers to the often messy procedures behind getting things done…
May 1, 2026 · 48:30
Secrets can ruin everything. Not little ones, we’re talking big, looming secrets that might change your life forever if they were ever brought out into the light of day. Some…
Apr 24, 2026 · 54:30
Anger can be useful. If you need to defend yourself or those you love, or if you need to stand up against some outrage in your community, anger can give you the necessary fire to…
Apr 17, 2026 · 59:34
Love can be a pretty hard thing to define. It’s easier to say what it is not. Love is not secretly following someone and trying your best to keep her within sight every second of…
Apr 10, 2026 · 1:01:04
Many of the stories we cover revolve around the disintegration of a marriage. It’s often a deeply traumatic event, upending entire lives and making an imagined future just vanish…
Apr 3, 2026 · 1:00:26
Life, obviously, is easier with money. Without having to scrabble and hustle just to survive, you can be free to pursue whatever interests and fascinations you like. But wealth…
Mar 27, 2026 · 38:49
If you’re unlucky, you might have at least one person in your life who just drives you crazy, someone with whom every interaction has an edge of mutual antipathy, that makes you…
Mar 20, 2026 · 42:53
Every night in the city, there are people out looking for something. Usually it’s just fun and excitement, but there are also those who go out looking to fulfill darker desires,…
Mar 13, 2026 · 48:34
It’s hard to convict someone of murder without a body. Even if it’s plain to everyone with a lick of common sense that the victim is dead and this is the guy who killed her, a…
Mar 6, 2026 · 54:49
Thanks to books and movies, and very occasionally real life, the idea of the genius killer has become pervasive. But most murderers are not dazzlingly creative schemers. If they…
Feb 27, 2026 · 33:13
Love is supposed to make you better. Your partner should push lift you up and make you want to improve yourself, improve life for you both. Sometimes, though, there are couples…
Feb 20, 2026 · 45:43
In the cases we cover, there are types of relationship that frequently crop up between killer and victim, romantic partners or romantic rivals most of all. Sometimes, though, the…
Feb 13, 2026 · 42:11
Legendary Conservationist Steve Irwin said, “We don’t own the planet Earth, we belong to it. And we must share it with our wildlife.” It’s such a lovely sentiment. We have a…
Feb 10, 2026 · 2:59
Come join us for CrimeWave 2.0, February 8-12, 2027 on Royal Caribbean's beautiful Oasis of the Seas. We're going to the Bahamas! See Katie and Whitney, plus Casefile, Last…
Feb 6, 2026 · 55:04
In a lot of ways, the world is smaller now than it ever has been. With a few clicks of the mouse, I can watch a live camera feed of Sydney harbor, or read a newspaper from any…
Jan 30, 2026 · 42:03
Winston Churchill once said, “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” That’s a nice sentiment—I mean, by and large it’s good to let failure be a…
Jan 16, 2026 · 54:17
On the surface, Blanche Taylor Moore looked like a model of small-town virtue: a devoted caregiver, a churchgoing woman, a trusted neighbor. But behind that carefully maintained…
Jan 9, 2026 · 54:06
A lot of the murder cases we cover feature slow-boiling resentments, or criminal schemes hatched with an explicit target in mind. Killings by strangers are rare—and terrifying.…
Jan 2, 2026 · 35:54
In the early 1990s, a beloved first-grade teacher in Pennsylvania began receiving harassing, threatening letters from an anonymous sender. Her school principal, fellow teachers,…
Dec 26, 2025 · 51:07
In Part Two of this story last week, we learned how serial husband and waste of DNA Randy Roth seduced, married, and almost certainly murdered his second wife Jan for a…
Dec 19, 2025 · 50:07
Last week, we introduced you to Randy Roth, and described his early life and his escalation from ridiculous loser and petty criminal, to the chief suspect in the death of his…
Dec 12, 2025 · 50:49
The story of Bluebeard has a mostly happy ending, with the killer’s newest bride being rescued in the nick of time by her brothers. Good for her, less good for his previous…
Dec 5, 2025 · 36:23
When we last left you, former Amishman Eli Stutzman was having a little trouble with the law. He’d abandoned the Amish lifestyle after the suspicious death of his wife and was…
Nov 28, 2025 · 44:27
The thing about serial killers is that it seems so obvious to us after the fact, right? Their behavior is so outrageous and so antisocial that we’re always left wondering why no…
Nov 21, 2025 · 42:21
Comedian Simon Amstell said, “If you are somebody who is going to at some point be revealed as not like everyone else, then to be in an insular community is a problem.” Here…
Nov 14, 2025 · 1:01:37
Last week, we did our first-ever live show on the Crimewave true crime cruise! We covered three cases, a sort of "sampler platter" to give new listeners an idea of what kind of…
Oct 31, 2025 · 46:30
We tell a lot of wild stories about crimes that happened right here in the States—but it’s worth noting that our cousins across the pond are misbehaving just as badly. Y’know,…
Oct 24, 2025 · 44:08
It’s hardly a revelation that physical attraction can cloud judgment. It’s one of the oldest traps in human nature—that spark of chemistry that overrides caution, turning common…
Oct 10, 2025 · 59:33
In part one of this story last week, we learned about Utah millionaire Franklin Bradshaw, who over the years had gained both a stupendous fortune and a strained relationship with…
Oct 3, 2025 · 47:53
All the money in the world can’t buy peace of mind. Family life, with its jealousies and rivalries, carries the same pressures no matter the size of the bank account—but when…
Sep 26, 2025 · 39:41
The Buddha said, "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense." Ignore that…
Sep 19, 2025 · 38:18
We deal with a lot of real-life horror stories, and because it’s real life, they’re often chaotic and cruel. Justice might ultimately be served, but more often than not, the…
Sep 12, 2025 · 39:35
If there’s one constant in the kind of people we cover, it’s this—they’re liars. Con artists trying to scam their way into money, murderers denying their crimes, spouses with…
Sep 5, 2025 · 45:56
Most of us grew up loving superhero stories. My favorite was always the X-Men. I liked the idea of these people who were born with mutations that initially made them targets of…
Aug 29, 2025 · 35:40
Cell phones are amazing, aren’t they? You have a little magic box in your pocket that you can look at and use to call halfway across the world. New parents can send photos of…
Aug 15, 2025 · 38:33
Home is the one place in the world that’s ours and ours alone. It’s the place we’re meant to feel completely safe and comfortable. The warm, beating heart of our lives. So when…
Aug 8, 2025 · 38:48
No is a powerful word. It can stop a naughty dog in its tracks, it can get you out of a night out with friends when you just want to rot in your bed, and most of all, it’s…
Aug 1, 2025 · 56:33
Mark Twain, always a good man for a quote, said about getting old: “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” There is generally a broad…
Jul 25, 2025 · 46:24
There’s an old saying that if you hear hoofbeats, you should think horses, not zebras. It means that in most situations, the simplest, most likely explanation is probably the…
Jul 18, 2025 · 43:49
There’s a saying that goes, “All regulations are written in blood.” And it’s true. If given the opportunity, companies will cut corners and find loopholes to make their jobs…
Jul 11, 2025 · 55:51
In last week’s episode, we learned about the troubled early life of Earle Nelson, and witnessed his first steps towards becoming one of the most prolific serial killers in North…
Jul 4, 2025 · 40:02
If you think about the 1920s in the United States, a few things might come to mind—jazz, prohibition, Babe Ruth, and, right at the end, the Wall Street Crash. And if you think of…
Jun 27, 2025 · 37:16
I saw a meme one time that said, “It’s funny how sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for are the ones behind the trigger.” Most of the time that’s just a metaphor, a way to…
Jun 20, 2025 · 51:36
Motivational speakers started really gaining popularity in the 70s and 80s, the golden age of “self-help.” And in recent years, they’ve been even more in-demand, especially in…
Jun 13, 2025 · 44:14
Nobody likes to be embarrassed. More often than not, people are kind of weird in one way or another, have some secret history or fascination they’d hate to have dragged out into…
Jun 6, 2025 · 36:35
The heart has been the subject of mythology for humanity for centuries. Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, your heart was weighed against a feather and if all your life’s…
May 30, 2025 · 50:42
If there’s one thing that gets people’s blood pumpin’, it’s sports. All over the world on any given day, you can find people getting into passionate arguments about whose team…
May 23, 2025 · 54:22
A young woman found naked and dead in the water. A diary that held clues to a secret life. Dark truths hidden behind suburban walls, and a mind at war with itself. This week we…
May 16, 2025 · 45:32
There’s a meme I’ve seen a few times. It says “You never know how toxic something is until you breathe fresher air.” I think it’s about how easy it is to get so completely…
May 9, 2025 · 40:57
You’re supposed to be safe at home. Why wouldn’t you be? And that sense of comfort must be even greater if “home” is a beautiful house you built yourself, where you live happily…
May 2, 2025 · 33:30
Obsession is one of humanity’s greatest boons… and curses. Obsession can fuel a scientist’s entire career in trying to solve a singular problem. An athlete’s obsession can pull…
Apr 25, 2025 · 38:48
There are some people who, if they find themselves stuck in a hole, will just keep digging deeper. Maybe they think they’ll find some highly improbable way out of their troubles,…
Apr 18, 2025 · 50:28
The U.S. military teaches recruits to function together as a well-oiled machine—and for young people who dream of joining the most elite forces, it requires discipline,…
Apr 17, 2025 · 3:44
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season! Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems to be thriving. His…
Apr 11, 2025 · 41:58
How far would you go to get what you want? For most of us, there’s a hard limit on the answer to that question, and that limit is hurting someone. Especially someone close to…
Mar 28, 2025 · 51:20
For at least the past 200 years or so, there’s been a lot of debate about women and the role we’re supposed to play in society. Historically, we’ve been expected to be the…
Mar 21, 2025 · 36:33
For people of faith, a minister is supposed to be a figure of trust, a rock to support you in times of trouble. Not everyone who holds that position meets those ideals, though.…
Mar 14, 2025 · 47:53
In this week’s episode, we are going to be looking at “Bullshido,” a catch-all term for martial arts practices that are either fake, delusional, or just plain useless. This is…
Feb 28, 2025 · 58:18
Art is a mysterious thing. It’s hard to pin down why one thing moves us and another does not. Similarly, it can be hard to identify that special spark, that unique creativity…
Feb 21, 2025 · 47:12
We’ve covered some real nasty pieces of work on our show over the years. Dive into true crime for any length of time, and you’re bound to come across plenty of people you…
Feb 14, 2025 · 48:11
Last week, we learned the identity of the man hired to kill Rozanne Gailiunas—Andy Hopper, an insurance adjustor turned weed dealer who had apparently added “hitman” to his list…
Feb 7, 2025 · 51:12
In last week’s episode, young nurse Rozanne Gailiunas was brutally murdered while her young son slept in the room next door. Suspicion initially fell on both her estranged…
Jan 31, 2025 · 44:10
The late, great Bo Diddley asked one of life’s big questions in one of the 20th century’s greatest songs—“Who Do You Love?” That’s a simple question, but in some relationships,…
Jan 24, 2025 · 39:16
We’ve covered our share of scary ladies on this show. In fact, bad bitches are one of our special interests. There was Tracey Richter, who murdered an innocent neighbor to frame…
Jan 17, 2025 · 56:39
Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Money has never made a man happy yet, nor will it.” To which I think a lot of people would say, yeah, try being poor, Benny. A couple thousand dollars…
Jan 10, 2025 · 49:09
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.…
Jan 3, 2025 · 51:35
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…
Dec 20, 2024 · 43:43
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…
Dec 13, 2024 · 54:11
Some of the easiest people on the planet to fool are those who have a real high opinion of their own brains based on very little evidence. A classic con-artist trick is to make…
Dec 9, 2024 · 4:36
On June 10th, 1983, the decomposing body of a well-dressed man was found in a desolate canyon near Los Angeles. John Doe #94 would soon be identified as missing variety show…
Dec 6, 2024 · 52:07
When we left you at the end of Part 1, fourteen year old Steven Stayner had escaped from seven years of captivity and abuse at the hands of child predator Kenneth Parnell—and…
Nov 29, 2024 · 52:44
In classic literature—and in soap operas, too—there are a lot of families who become lightning rods for misfortune. Sometimes it really strains your suspension of disbelief—like,…
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